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A   GUIDE 


«,  y  TO  THE 


STUDY  OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY. 


SELECTED  AND  ABRIDGED  FROM  A  LARGER  TREATISE  BY  THE 

SAME  AUTHOR,  ENTITLED  "A  DISSERTATION  ON  THE 

PROPHETIC  SCRIPTURES,"  &c.  &c. 


BY   M.   HABERSHON. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
ORRIN  ROGERS,  67  SOUTH  SECOND  STREET. 

E.  G.  Dorsey,  Printer. 

1841. 


TO 


THE  REV.  EDWARD  BICKERSTETH, 

RECTOR  or  WATTON,  HERTS. 

My  Dear  Sir, — 

As  the  publication  of  the  vohime  of  which  the  present  tract 
is  an  abridgment,  led  to  my  introduction  to  you,  and  to  the 
commencement  of  a  friendship  from  which  I  have  already  de- 
rived much  gratification  and  profit,  there  is  no  person  to  whom 
I  can  with  greater  propriety,  or  with  more  satisfaction  to  my 
own  feelings,  dedicate  these  few  pages,  than  to  yourself:  more 
especially  as  it  is  to  you  that  I  am  indebted  for  the  hint  of 
condensing  in  a  small  compass,  and  sending  into  the  world  in 
a  cheap  form,  this  attempt  to  throw  light  on  the  confessedly 
difficult  and  important  subject  of  Chronological  Prophecy. 

Whilst,  however,  I  thus  make  known  that  it  is  to  your  hint 
this  little  tract  owes  its  existence,  it  is  due  to  you  to  observe, 
that  the  approbation  which  you  have  expressed  respecting  it 
does  not  at  all  commit  you  to  any  of  its  precise  dates,  or  to  the 
minutiae  of  interpretation  which  I  have  adopted  either  here,  or 
in  the  larger  treatise.  I  feel  thankful,  indeed,  in  reflecting 
that  you  consider  the  former  work  to  have  a  holy,  practical, 
and  sober  tendency:  as  far  as  this  is  really  the  case,  I  trust  it 
will  go  forth  with  the  Divine  blessing,  and  prove  useful  to 
the  Church  of  Christ. 

I  can  truly  say  for  myself,  that  the  more  I  reflect  upon,  and 
the  more  deeply  I  investigate,  the  subject  on  which  1  have  writ- 
ten, the  more  do  the  leading  positions  which  I  have  been  ena- 
bled to  advance,  commend  themselves  to  my  own  judgment; 
and  in  an  increasing  degree  do  those  great  and  interesting 
points  of  doctrine,  in  which  I  rejoice  to  think  our  sentiments 
are  in  perfect  accordance — viz:  the  speedy  approach  of  the  pre- 
millennial  Advent,  and  the  First  Resurrection — appear  to  my 
mind  to  rest  on  the  clearest  and  most  convincing  Scriptural 


iv  DEDICATION. 

grounds.  So  likewise,  in  an  equal  degree,  does  the  fact  of 
three  years  and  a  half's  fierce  and  awful  persecution  of  the 
Lord's  people,  which  is  immediately  to  precede  these  all-im- 
portant events — and  for  which  trial  of  its  faith  and  patience 
the  church  is  so  frequently  exhorted  to  be  found  in  an  attitude 
of  preparation  and  watchfulness — seem  to  me  to  rest  upon  the 
strongest  evidence. 

I  would  indulge  the  hope,  that  in  the  great  crisis  of  the 
world  in  which  our  lot  is  cast,  the  attention  of  many — oh  that 
I  could  say  of  mankind  in  general! — may  be  turned,  with  in- 
creasing interest,  from  the  passing  events  of  time  and  sense, 
in  which  they  are  so  deeply  engaged,  to  those  holy  re- 
cords of  Inspiration  in  which  these  sure  predictions  are  to  be 
found,  and  which  are  calculated,  under  the  teaching  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  make  them  wise  unto  salvation.  And  may 
such  as  are  of  the  household  of  faith  be  induced  to  give  a  more 
fixed  attention  than  they  have  hitherto  done  to  these  momen- 
tous prophecies,  from  which  much  of  the  darkness  and  mist,  in 
which  many  of  them  have  been  so  long  enveloped,  is  now, 
through  the  mercy  of  God,  fast  rolling  away,  and  giving  place 
to  the  dawn  of  a  full  and  clearer  vision.  Such  an  attention  to 
the  prophecies  connected  with  our  own  times,  would  give  a 
holy  and  Scriptural  direction  to  all  their  proceedings  and  alli- 
ances— to  their  expectations  and  prospects — and  be  a  means, 
under  the  blessing  of  God,  of  placing  them  in  a  more  safe,  more 
consistent,  and  more  just  position,  with  regard  to  each  other 
and  to  the  world,  than  that  which  they  at  present  occupy. 

With  an  earnest  prayer  that  the  blessing  of  the  Triune  Je- 
hovah, Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  may  rest  upon  this,  and 
every  effort  to  promote  His  glory,  I  have  the  pleasure  to  sub- 
scribe myself. 

My  Dear  Sir, 
Your  affectionate  Friend, 

M.  HABERSHON. 

Mortimer  Street,  London,  February,  1835. 


CONTENTS. 


Preliminary  Observations— Axioms  of  Interpretation,    -  -  page  vii 

Part  I.— Fulfilled  Prophecy, 

Iiitroductio7i—0hservaiions  on  the  120  years'  warning  of  the  Deluge,  9 

Period  I.— Two-fold  commencement,  two-fold  duration  (430  and  400 
years),  and  same  termination:  from  the  call  of  Abraham,  e.  c.  1921, 
and  from  the  mockery  of  Isaac,  b.  c.  1891,  to  Israel's  deliverance  out 
of  Egypt,  B.  c.  1491, 11 

Period  II.— Sixty-five  years:  from  the  first  year  of  Ahaz,  b.  c.  742,  to  the 

final  overthrow  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  b.  c.  677,    -  -  -        14 

Period  III.— Seventy  years:  two-fold  commencement  and  two-fold  ter- 
mination: from  the  commencement  of  Judah's  captivity  in  Babylon, 
B.  c.  606,  to  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  b.  c.  536;  and  from  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  b.  c.  588,  to  the  decree  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  b.  c.  518,        IG 

Period  IV.— Four  hundred  and  ninety  years:  from  the  seventh  year  of 

Artaxerxes,  b.  c.  457-6,  to  a.  d.  33  or  34,        -  -  -  -        18 


Part  II. — Unfulfilled  Prophecy. 


23 


Introduction — Explanation  of  the  Seals,  Trumpets,  and  Vials, 
Period  V.— Two  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty  years:  double  appli- 
cation (to  Israel  and  Judah),  with  double  commencement  and  double 
termination  to  each  application,  -  -  -  -  -        29 

First  Application:  Kingdom  of  Israel:  from  the  final  destruction  of  the 
kingdom  to  its  restoration:  i.  e.  from  b.  c.  727  and  677,  to  a.  d.  1793 

and  1843-4, 29 

Second  Application:  Kingdom  of  Judah:  from  the  dethronement  of  the 
house  of  David,  and  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom,  to  the  Millen- 
nium: i.  e.  from  b.  c.  677  and  602,  to  a.  d.  1843-4  and  1918-19,        -        34 


Vi  CONTENTS. 

Period  VI. — Two  thousand  and  three  hundred  years:  from  the  seventh 

of  Artaxerxes,  b.  c.  457-6,  to  a.  d.  1843-4,      -  -  -  -        36 

Period  VII.— Twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years:  from  the  giving  of  the 
saints  into  the  hands  of  the  Pope  to  the  fall  of  the  Popish  apostacy, 
and  from  the  formation  of  the  ten  kingdoms  to  their  destruction: 
three  aspects,  three  durations  (1260,  1290,  and  1335  years),  double 
commencement  (a.  d.  533  and  583-4),  and  double  termination  (a.  d. 

1793  and  1843-4), 38 

First  Aspect — dominion  of  the  Pope  himself,  -  -  -  -        39 

Second  Aspect — dominion  of  the  ten  Papal  kingdoms,  -  -        46 

Third  Aspect — depressed  condition  of  the  Church,      -  -  -        47 

Period  VIII. — Three  hundred  and  ninety-one  years:  from  the  overthrow 
of  the  Eastern  Roman  Empire,  a.  d.  1453,  to  the  "drying  up"  of  the 
kingdom  of  Turkey,  a.  d.  1844.  .  ,  .  .  -        50 

Conclusion. — Reasons  for  concluding  that  Great  Britain,  as  one  of  the 
"ten  kingdoms,"  will  be  involved  in  the  impending  judgments  of 
ruin  and  desolation.  The  view  which  ought  to  be  taken  of  this  sub- 
ject by  the  people  of  God,        .,  -  -  -  -        52 


PRELIMINARY   OBSERVATIONS. 

The  Reader  will  do  well  to  bear  in  mind  the  following 
Axioms,  which  may  be  considered  as  of  general  application  in 
the  study  of  Chronological  and  Symbolical  Prophecy. 

First.  On  all  occasions  these  prophecies  refer  to  the  most 
deeply  important  eras  in  history. 

Second.  They  have  always  a  special  respect  to  the  affairs  of 
the  Church,  and  the  history  of  Redemption. 

Third.  They  have  a  reference  to  events  which  have  pro- 
duced permanent  and  striking  changes  in  the  world. 

Fourth.  They  refer  to  the  most  severe  judgments  which  the 
world  has  ever  experienced. 

In  proof  of  these  observations,  I  would  instance  the  princi- 
pal events  that  have  been  the  subject  of  the  most  remarkable 
prophecies. 

1.  The  Deluge — a  judgment  which  destroyed  every  human 
being  except  Noah  and  his  family.  Its  effect  on  the  church 
was,  that  it  closed  the  Antediluvian  Dispensation.  This  was 
the  subject  of  Noah's  prophecy  of  120  years. 

2.  The  Plagues  of  Egypt;  the  total  destruction  of  Pharaoh's 
army  in  the  Red  Sea;  and  the  annihilation  of  the  nations  of 
Canaan. — These  events  brought  about  the  deliverance  of  the 
church  from  the  land  of  bondage,  and  planted  the  Israelites  in 
their  promised  land;  and  the}^  closed  the  Patriarchal  Dispen- 
sation. They  form  the  termination  of  the  "First  Period,"  or 
the  400  years  prophesied  of  to  Abraham. 

3.  The  destruction  of  the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and  Judah, 
which  was  effected  by  the  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  and  Ro- 
mans, in  the  respective  sieges  of  Samaria  and  Jerusalem. — 
These  events  occasioned  the  long  captivity  of  the  Ten  Tribes; 
the  Babylonish  Captivity;  and  the  entire  dispersion  of  the 
Jews  into  all  nations;  and  put  an  end  to  the  Levitical  or 
Jewish  Dispensation.  They  are  prophesied  of  in  the  "Second, 
Third,  and  Fourth  Periods." 

4.  The  terrible  invasions  of  the  Goths,  Vandals,  and  other 
barbarian  nations,  which  destroyed  and  depopulated  the 
Western  Roman  Empire;  and,  in  co-operation  with  the  rising 
power  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  were  the  means  of  establishing 
the  Papal  Apostacy.  These  events  are  prophesied  of  in  the 
first  four  Trumpets,  in  connection  with  the  first  four  Seals; 
likewise  in  the  "ten  horns  and  the  little  horn"  of  Daniel's 
vision  of  the  wild  beasts. 

5.  The  still  more  terrific  invasions  of  the  Saracens  and 
Turks,  which  overthrew  the  Eastern  Empire,  and  established 
the  Mahometan  Apostacy  ;  prophesied  of  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 


VIU 

Trumpets;  and  in  the  "little  horn"  of  the  vision  of  the  Ram. 
and  He-Goat. 

These  awful  judgments  and  changes  are  what  have  already- 
been  fully  accomplished,  and  have  produced  the  successive 
dispensations  through  which  the  Church  has  passed. 

That  still  more  awful  judgment  and  change  which  remains 
to  be  accomplished,  and  the  fearful  note  of  which,  in  the  con- 
tents of  the  sixth  and  seventh  Seals,  and  the  first  six  Vials, 
has  already  tingled  in  our  ears,  and  given  a  most  fearful  note 
of  warning,  both  in  the  way  of  judgment  and  of  mercy,  is — 

6.  The  overthrow  and  destruction  of  every  existing  king- 
dom, and  of  every  apostacy,  preparatory  to  the  full  Restoration 
of  the  Jews,  and  the  reign  of  Christ  with  his  saints  on  the 
earth.  This  will  form  the  close  of  the  present  dispensation, 
and  introduce  the  Millennium. 

The  prophetical  dates  which  are  to  usher  in  this  greatest  of 
all  former  crises  in  the  world's  history,  are  those  which  form 
the  "  Fifth,  Sixth,  Seventh,  and  Eighth  Periods:"  and  these 
events  likewise  form  the  subject  of  the  seventh  Trumpet  and 
the  seventh  Vial,  both  of  which  equally  point  to  the  time  as 
being  near  at  hand.  In  fact,  there  appears  now  no  events  in 
prophecy  that  remain  to  be  fulfilled,  but  those  that  are  imme- 
diately connected  with  this  period. 

In  addition  to  the  above  Axioms  of  Interpretation,  I  would 
further  add — 

Fifth.  That  more  than  one  duration  is  sometimes  assigned  to 
the  same  prophecy.  For  instance:  400  and  430  years,  to  the 
First  Period;  and  1260,  1290,  and  1335  years,  to  the  Seventh 
Period. 

Sixth.  To  the  Third,  Fifth  and  Seventh  Periods,  there  is 
the  peculiarity  of  a  double  commencement  and  a  consequent 
double  termination. 

Seventh.  The  language  of  prophetical  dates  is  generally 
understood  a  "day  for  a  year."  A  ''week,"  or  seven  days, 
is  therefore  seven  years;  a  "month,"  or  thirty  days,  is  thirty 
years;  and  a  "time,"  or  three  hundred  and  sixty  days,  is  three 
hundred  and  sixty  years.     For  instance — 

The  "7  times"  of  the  Fifth  Period  are  7x360=2520  years. 

The  "time,  times,    and  a  half,"   or  360  +  720  +  180=1260 
years. 

The  "1260  days,"  and  "42  months,"  or  42x30=1260;  the 
same,  or  1260  years. 

The  "2300  days"  of  the  Sixth  Period  are  so  many  years. 

The  "70  weeks"  of  the  Fourth  Period,  or  70x7=490  years. 

The  "year,  month,  day,  and  hour"  of  the  Eighth  Period, 
are  360  +  30  +  1=391  literal  days,  or  391  years  and  a 
month. 


A  GUIDE 


STUDY  OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY. 


PART  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 

In  the  work  of  which  the  present  is  an  ahridgment,  I  was 
led  to  consider  the  date  which  pointed  to  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt  as  the  "first  chronological  prophecy  on  the  record  of 
the  word  of  God."  My  attention,  however,  has  subsequently 
been  directed  to,  and  I  have  been  urged  to  notice,  the  anterior 
date  of  the  120  years'  warning  given  to  Noah,  and  by  him  to 
the  world,  of  the  then  approaching  judgment  of  the  Deluge. 
To  us,  who  are  living  on  the  very  eve  of  the  termination  of 
the  "times  of  the  Gentiles,"  this  period,  which  is  so  pro- 
minently brought  to  our  notice  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self, as  descriptive  of  the  time  immediately  preceding  his 
second  coming  (Matt.  xxiv.  37 — 39;  Luke  xvii.  26,  27,)  is 
indeed  one  replete  with  interest  and  importance. 

The  following  is  the  Prophecy: — "And  the  Lord  said,  My 
Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man,  for  that  he  also  is  flesh: 
yet  his  days  shall  be  an  hundred  and  twenty  years."  (Gen. 
vi.  3.)  Or,  as  it  is  rendered  by  Dr.  Boothroyd,  in  his  Family- 
Bible: — ''And  Jehovah  said,  My  Spirit  shall  never  pronounce 
judgment  on  man  unwarned.  They  are  but  flesh.  Their 
days  therefore  shall  be  an  hundred  and  twenty  years." 

From  this  passage  it  appears  that  this  was  truly  and  pro- 
perly a  prophetical  date,  and  that  God,  by  Noah,  declared  unto 
all  living,  that  He  would  wait  120  years,  and  only  120  years, 
before  He  executed  his  purposed  vengeance   on  an  ungodly 

VOL.   III.  —  1 


20  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

world.  There  was  a  date  fixed,  not  for  doubtful  and  dis- 
putable speculation,  but  for  the  same  holy  purposes  as  dates 
are  with  equal  clearness  and  certainty  now  fixed, — for  warning 
and  watchfulness.  And  when  God  has  thus  been  pleased  to 
fix  upon  dates,  it  requires  not,  as  some  would  allege,  "the 
spirit  of  a  prophet  to  pierce  the  mystery  of  the  future;"  for 
Revelation,  in  whatever  form  it  is  given,  is  undoubtedly 
intended  to  serve  a  special  purpose  to  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and,  when  the  time  arrives  that  it  is  required,  to  be  under- 
stood. 

The  analogy  which  our  Saviour  exhibited  of  the  days  of 
Noah  answering  to  those  of  the  present  time,  appears, 

1st.  In  the  suddenness  of  that  destruction  which  is  coming 
upon  the  world.  In  one  day  "the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
were  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened," 
and,  to  those  who  were  not  in  the  ark,  hope  for  ever  fled:  so, 
in  like  manner,  "As  the  lightning  cometh  from  the  East,  and 
shineth  unto  the  West,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
Man  be"  (Matt.  xxiv.  27).  "At  midnight  there  was  a  cry 
made,  Behold,  the  Bridegroom  cometh!"  Matt.  xxv.  0;  2  Pet. 
iii.  10;  Rev.  xvi.  15,  &c. 

2d.  In  its  universality.  It  was  not,  like  the  subsequent 
judgments  on  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  on  Egypt,  on  Canaan,  on 
Israel  and  Judah,  or  like  those  on  the  ancient  Roman  world, 
confined  to  one  particular  nation;  it  extended  to  all  mankind, 
and  "took  them  all  away:  so  shall  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
Man  be"  (Matt.  xxiv.  39).  See  the  seventh  trumpet  and  the 
seventh  vial;  where  it  is  said,  "And  the  seventh  angel  poured 
out  his  vial  into  the  air." 

3d.  In  the  indifference,  sensuality,  and  infidelity  of  the 
world:  "They  were  eating  and  drinking,  manying  and  giving 
in  marriage,  utitil  the  day  that  Noah  entered  into  the  ark." 
Peter  calls  it  "the  world  of  the  ungodly"  (2  Pet.  ii.  5).  And 
God  saw  that  "every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart 
was  evil  continually"  (Gen.  vi.  5).  So  in  the  present  day, 
"there  are  scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts"  (2  Pet.  iii. 
3;  2  Tim.  iii.  1 — 5):  and  the  world  abounds  to  an  unprece- 
<lented  degree  with  infidelity  and  crime. 

4th.  In  the  exceptions  that  grace  will  make.  As  in  the  one 
instance  Noah  and  his  family  were  preserved,  he  being  found 
righteous  before  God  (Gen.  vi.  9;  Gen.  vii.  1;  2  Pet.  ii.  5); 
so  in  the  coming  judgments  of  God  upon  the  world  blessed  be 
His  name!  there  is  a  special  number,  the  true  church  of  Christ 
upon  earth,  who  are  sealed  for  deliverance  (Rev.  vii.;  Matt, 
xxiv.  40,  41;  Matt.  xxv.  10,  &c.);  and  for  whom  these  words 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  H 

are  intended,  "When  ye  see  these  things  coming  upon  the 
world,  then  lift  up  your  heads,  for  ijour  redemption  draweth 
nigh." 


PERIOD  I. 

From  the  call  of  Abraham  and  from  the  mockery  of  Isaac,  lo 
Israel's  deliverance  out  of  Egypt:  430  years,  from  1921  to 
1491  E.  C;  and  400  years,  from  1891  to  1491  5.   C. 

The  Prophecy.  Gen.  xv.  12—14  (see  also  Acts  vii.  6,  7);  Ex.  xii.  40—42 
(see  also  Gal.  iii.  17). 

The  first  chronological  prophecy  on  the  records  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  posterior  to  the  Deluge,  was  given  to  Abraham,  in 
connection  with  the  promise  of  his  son  Isaac  and  a  ''seed 
numerous  as  the  stars  of  heaven,"  and  refers  to  the  rise,  sub- 
jugation, and  great  deliverance  of  that  seed  from  Egypt.  It 
commences  with  the  spring-head  of  Israel  as  a  nation, — the 
calling  of  Abraham  from  a  land  of  idolatry;  separating  him 
from  the  rest  of  the  world,  that  he  and  his  family  might  be  the 
depositaries  of  the  oracles  of  Jehovah,  and  the  recipients  of  the 
types,  promises,  and  prophecies  which  were  to  shadow  forth 
and  represent  the  coming  of  Him  who  was  to  be  the  Desire  of 
all  nations,  and  the  great  atoning  sacrifice  for  sin. 

It  includes  the  first  epoch  of  the  wonders  of  the  Jewish 
history — the  days  of  its  youth; — and  may  be  considered  as  a 
new  foundation  laid  for  the  visible  church  of  God,  Abraham 
being  called  the  father  of  the  faithful,  and  a  pattern  for  believers 
in  all  ages.  It  embraces  the  lives  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob;  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren,  the  heads  of  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel:  and  includes  the  cruel  bondage  of  their 
descendants  in  Egypt;  and  the  wonders  and  miracles  done  at 
the  court  of  Pharaoh,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Moses 
and  Aaron,  up  to  the  night  of  their  memorable  exodus  and 
great  deliverance. 

This  period  has  two  durations:  400,  and  430  years.  The 
former,  that  of  400  years,  was  announced  to  Abraham  in  Gen. 
XV.  The  history  of  it  is  briefly  given  by  Stephen  (Acts  vii. 
2 — 6).  The  latter  duration,  of  430  years,  is  not  named  until 
after  the  period  had  expired,  by  Moses,  Exod.  xii.  40;  by  Paul, 
Gal.  iii.  17. 

The  commencement  of  these  two  durations  is  at  separate 
times — the  430   years   being   reckoned   from  the  calling  of 


12  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

Abraham;    the    400    years    from    the    mocking   of  Isaac    by 
Ishmael. 

The  first  commencement  is  marked  by  the  call  of  Abraham 
from  the  land  of  his  fathers;  the  promise  of  the  Messiah  from 
his  seed;  and  the  grant  of  the  land  of  Canaan  (Gen.  xii.  1 — 3, 
7).  This  complete  gra?2t  of  the  kingdom  of  Canaan — a  grant 
which  never  has  been,  and  never  can  be,  rescinded — gives  the 
Israelites  a  title  to  this  territory  which  no  other  people  ever 
had  to  any  earthly  possessions: — it  is  theirs  by  the  gift  of  God. 
(Gen.  xiii.  14,  15,  17;  xvii.  S).  //  is  slill,  and  ever  will  6e, 
their  own  land. 

The  second  commencement  is  the  separation  of  Isaac  and 
Ishmael.  This  event  separated  the  heir  of  promise  from  him 
that  was  born  after  the  flesh;  and  was  the  ostensible  act  which 
shewed  to  the  world  that  it  was  in  Isaac  that  Abraham's  seed 
should  be  called.  The  Apostle  Paul  represents  this  transac- 
tion as  an  allegory,  signifying  the  two  covenants,  and  typical 
of  the  Levitical  and  Christian  dispensations  (Gal.  iv.  22 — 31). 
Thus,  as  the  commencement  of  the  first  duration  was  marked 
by  the  grant  of  the  country  and  land  of  Canaan;  so  that  of  the 
fecond  was,  by  shewing  whose  seed,  of  the  two  sons  of 
Abraham,  was  to  possess  it. 

The  liDO  duralio7is  had  a  commo7i  termijiation — the  deliverance 
from  Egypt — an  event  attested  by  such  stupendous  miracles, 
and  followed  by  such  important  consequences,  that  it  is  not 
less  a  subject  of  encouragement,  praise,  and  wonder  to  the 
Jews,  than  it  is  to  every  believer.  The  Lord  himself  appeals 
to  it  as  an  astonishing  and  sublime  manifestation  of  His  power 
and  goodness  on  behalf  of  his  creatures.  (Exod.  xx.  2;  Num. 
XV.  41;  Deut.  xiii.  5,  10;  Judges  ii.  12:  &c.  &c.)  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  season  of  such  surpassing  wonders,  that  it  is  only  to  be 
exceeded  by  what  shall  happen  when  this  land  shall  be  again 
restored  to  them;  and  then  it  shall  be  exceeded  (Jer.  xvii. 
15,  16). 

The  exact  time  of  the  commertcement,  and  consequent  accom- 
plishment, of  these  Izco  durations,  could  only  have  been  knon-n  zdth 
certainty  after  the  deliverance  f-om  E^rypt  had  take?i  place. — 
There  was  nothing  in  the  language  of  the  prophecy  itself  that 
could  lead  the  mind  to  fix  upon  the  date  of  its  commencement. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  abject  state  of  degradation 
than  that  to  which  the  Israelites  were  at  this  time  reduced. 
From  oppression  so  great,  from  a  night  so  dark,  there  could 
appear  no  human  hope  of  deliverance.  Yet  when  the  predicted 
hour  arrived,  Jehovah  shewed,  in  the  sight  of  all  their  enemies, 
that  there  is  no  depth  of  misery,  however  great;  no  chain's  of 
slavery,  however  strong;  no  state  of  degradation,  however  low. 


OP  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  J  3 

that  can  bar  the  accomplishment  of  His  purposes  of  love  and 
mercy. 

The  commencement  was  not  to  be  dated  from  the  time  the  pro- 
phecy was  given. — The  date  generally  assigned  to  the  trans- 
actions between  the  Lord  and  Abraham,  recorded  in  Gen.  xv., 
when  this  chronological  prophecy  was  given,  is  the  year  b.  c. 
1913  or  1911;  which  falls  in  between  the  two  actual  com- 
mencements. If  it  were  known  to  the  children  of  Israel  during 
their  bondage,  they  would  probably  liave  calculated  the  ter- 
mination from  this  time,  which  would  have  brought  it  20  or 
22  years  before  it  actually  transpired;  and  this  circumstance 
might  probably  add  to  the  hopelessness  of  their  situation.  But 
though  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  throw  a  certain  degree  of 
obscurity  around  the  clearest  revelations  He  hath  made  respect- 
ing future  events — particularly  as  it  regards  times  and  seasons 
— yet  is  there  nothing  uncertain  or  indefinite:  and  such  reflec- 
tions apply  to  those  chronological  prophecies  the  completion 
of  which  the  church  is  now  looking  for.  And  the  posterity 
of  Abraham  may  rest  assured,  that  that  great  deliverance, 
which  is  promised  them,  and  for  which  they  are  now  looking, 
will  in  the  fulness  of  time  be  made  manifest:  and  that,  how- 
ever discouraging  appearances  may  at  any  time  be,  yet  will 
God  then  do  his  work — his  greater  work — to  put  them  again 
in  possession  of  their  own  favoured  land. 

But  it  was  not  immediately  after  their  deliverance  from 
Egypt  that  this  consummation  was  permitted  to  take  place. 
The  people  were  to  be  led  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  "to 
humble  them,  to  prove  them,  and  to  know  what  was  in  their 
hearts,  whether  they  would  keep  His  commandments  or  no." 
For  it  is  the  usual  way  of  God's  providence,  when  He  has  any 
very  great  mercies  to  bestow,  first  to  prepare  his  people  for 
their  reception,  and  then  to  make  the  bestowment. 

A  similar  line  of  proceeding  will,  it  is  probable,  take  place 
in  the  "latter  day,"  when  possession  will  be  again  given  them 
of  their  country.  A  period  of  thirty  years,  and  subsequently 
of  forty-five  years,  is  spoken  of  as  intervening  between  the 
time  of  their  restoration  and  the  Millennium.  During  this 
time,  no  doubt  the  Lord  will  again  plead  with  them;  the  hard- 
ness of  their  hearts  will  be  taken  away;  they  will  look  unto 
Him  whom  they  pierced,  and  mourn.  And  it  is  a  reflection 
that  forces  itself  upon  the  mind,  in  connection  with  the  time 
in  which  we  are  living,  that  not  only  Egypt  vvas  thus  visited 
with  these  heavy  and  fearful  judgments,  but  likewise  the  in- 
habitants of  Canaan — the  people  amongst  whom  the  children 
of  Israel  sojourned  the  former  part  of  this  period — were  in 
their  turn  totally  ruined,  and  became  the  victims  of  God's  un- 
sparing vengeance. 


14  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 


PERIOD  II. 

From  the  Jirsi  year  of  Ahaz  to  the  Jirial  overthrow  of  the  kingdom 
of  Israel:  65  years ,  from  742  to  611  B.  C. 

The  Prophecy.    Isai.  vii.  1 — 9.* 

The  events  which  commence  and  terminate  this  chronolo- 
gical Period,  are  connected  with  the  closing  scenes  alike  of 
Israel's  and  Judah's  prosperity.  As  the  space  of  the  First 
Period  embraced  the  days  of  their  youth,  so  the  time  between 
the  First  and  Second  Period  embraces  that  of  their  full  matu- 
rity and  manhood.  But  as  the  object  of  prophetical  dates  does 
not,  on  any  occasion,  appear  to  be  intended  for  seasons  of  pros- 
perity— only  as  supports  in  seasons  of  affliction  and  trial; — so 
none  were  therefore  given  during  this  long  interval;  which 
lasted,  from  the  conquest  of  Canaan  under  Joshua  in  1451  e.g., 
to  the  period  now  under  consideration,  above  SOO  years.  This 
includes  the  brightest  period  of  the  Jewish  history,  and  the 
highest  external  glory  of  the  Jewish  church.  Being  the  only 
instance  of  a  people  living  under  a  Theocracy,  or  the  imme- 
diate government  of  God,  which  the  world  ever  saw,  the  events 
of  their  nation  must  of  necessity  be  of  a  character  correspond- 
ing to  this  high  distinction;  and  the  mind  is  prepared,  after 
being  acquainted  with  what  the  Almighty  did  for  them  in  the 
period  already  considered,  up  to  their  conquest  of  Canaan,  to 
expect  something  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  things  in  their 
history.     (See  Heb.  xi.  32—35.) 

In  the  Book  of  Revelation  the  Jewish  church  is  compared 
to  the  moon,  which,  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arose  on 
a  benighted  world,  the  church  is  represented  as  having  under 
her  feet;  and  this  period  of  its  history  was  when  she  might  be 
said  to  be  at  the  full.  At  the  time  of  Solomon  especially — 
which  was  about  the  middle  point  between  the  calling  of  Abra- 
ham and  the  coming  of  Christ — the  Jewish  church  in  a  re- 
markable manner  shadowed  forth,  though  but  faintly,  the  king- 

*  The  last  two  verses  are  thus  rendered  by  Dr.  Jebb: 

"Though  the  head  of  Assyria  be  Damascus, 

And  the  head  of  Damascus  Retzin; 

And  the  head  of  Ephraim  be  Samaria, 

And  the  head  of  Samaria  Remaliah's  son;  , 

Yet  within  three  score  and  five  years 

Ephraim  shall  be  broken,  that  it  be  no  more." 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  J  5 

dom  of  Christ  in  its  state  of  glory,  as  it  shall  be  in  the  latter 
ages  of  the  world. 

This  external  glory  was,  however,  of  short  duration.  From 
this  time  the  Jewish  Church  began  to  decline,  gradually  mak- 
ing way  for  the  more  glorious  dispensation  of  the  Gospel. 

As  soon  as  her  troubles  came  upon  her,  then  did  the  Lord 
have  recourse  to  what  has  ever  been  a  support  to  the  church 
under  all  her  sufferings — to  prophetical  dates. 

But  for  the  apparently  insignificant  date  now  under  consi- 
deration, the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  would  have 
been,  as  it  generally  is,  considered  to  have  happened  on  the 
invasion  of  Shalmaneser, kingof  Assyria;  whereas  it  is  certain 
that,  according  to  this  date,  it  did  not  take  place  till  forty  or 
fifty  years  afterwards.  That  the  country  was  not  wholly  strip- 
ped of  its  inhabitants  by  Shalmaneser,  appears  from  many  pass- 
ages of  the  history  of  Josiah;  for  when  he  began  to  purge  the 
land  from  idols,  Israelites  are  mentioned  as  still  remaining 
there.   (3  Chron.  xxxiv,  6,  7,  38;  xxxv.  IS;  2  Kings  xxiii.  19.) 

There  must  have  been  a  few  inhabitants  until  the  invasion 
of  Esarhaddon;  and  it  was  then,  at  the  expiration  of  this  pro- 
phetical date  of  sixty-five  years,  that  the  land  was  utterly  de- 
spoiled, and  the  irrecoverable  ruin  of  the  Ten  Tribes  took 
place;  for  Esarhaddon  carried  all  the  remnant  of  the  people 
into  Assyria;  and  then,  to  prevent  the  land  from  being  deso- 
late, he  brought  others,  from  Cutha  and  from  Avah  and  Havath 
and  Sepharvaim,  to  dwell  in  the  cities  of  Samaria,  in  their 
stead. 

Thus  accurately  is  the  period  fixed  when  ten  out  of  the 
twelve  Tribes  were  carried  captive,  and  made  outcasts  from 
their  own  land;  and  thus  accurately  are  we  furnished  with  a 
datum  from  whence  to  calculate  the  chronological  prophecies 
connected  with  their  restoration.  The  date  was  to  be  reckon- 
ed from  the  time  it  was  given  to  the  Prophet  Isaiah;  which 
was  on  the  occasion  of  the  King  of  Israel  conspiring  with  the 
King  of  Syria  to  dethrone  the  Royal  House  of  David,  and  set 
up  a  stranger  as  King  of  Judah  in  the  room  of  Ahaz:  they  not 
knowing,  or  forgetting,  that  from  his  family  "a  virgin  should 
conceive  and  bear  a  Son,  and  should  call  his  name  Immanuel;" 
which  was  the  sign  the  Prophet  gave  him  to  calm  his  fears. 
And  this  was  one  of  those  extraordinary  interferences  on  behalf 
of  Judah,  which  are  so  often  found  in  the  history  of  its  kings, 
in  which  God  stepped  out  of  the  common  order  of  his  provi- 
dence for  their  preservation,  even  though  Ahaz  himself  "did 
evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord." 

The  close  of  the  Period  was  to  be  marked  by  the  ruin  of  one 
of  those  enemies  that  had  thus  plotted  his  destruction :  the  event 


15  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

happened  according  to  the  prediction,  and  Israel  ceased  to  be 
a  nation.  But  the  prophecy  has  a  reference,  not  to  the  capti- 
vity of  Israel  only,  for  the  captivity  of  Manasseh  happened  at 
the  same  time:  and  as  both  kingdoms  are  predicted  to  be  re- 
stored at  the  same  time,  if  their  united  ruin  is  to  be  dated  from 
any  one  period,  it  must  be  from  the  year  when  one  common 
ruin  fell  upon  them. 


PERIOD  III. 

From  the  Commencement  of  Judah's  Captivity  in  Babylon,  to  the 
decree  of  Cyrus,  70  years,  from  606  to  536  b.  c;  and  from  the 
Destruction  of  Jerusalem  to  the  Decree  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  70 
years,  from  588  to  51S  b.  c. 

The  Propheaj.    Jer,  xxv.  8 — 12;  xxix.  10. 

The  tribe  of  Judah  being  the  one  from  which  the  Messiah 
was  to  spring,  had  an  especial  blessing  resting  upon  it.  As, 
however,  its  privileges  were  great,  so  likewise  the  judgments 
that  followed  its  awful  apostacy.  Yet,  ere  their  country  was 
left  a  desolation,  it  pleased  God  to  give  them  a  distinct  promise 
of  a  return,  and  to  name  the  time  when  it  should  take  place. 

The  peculiarity  attending  this  chronological  date,  is,  that, 
without  offering  the  least  violence  of  interpretation,  it  will  bear 
to  be  considered  as  commencing  and  ending  at  two  separate 
and  distinct  times;  each  corresponding  commencement  and 
termination  including  exactly  the  specified  period  of  seventy 
years. 

The  primary  commencement  of  this  period  was  in  the  fourth 
year  of  Jehoiakim,  606  b.  c,  when  Nebuchadnezzar  first  in- 
vaded Judea  (2  Chron.  xxxvi.  6,  7.)  This  origin  is  confirmed 
by  history;  and  also  by  the  corresponding  termination,  which, 
■when  the  time  arrived,  in  536  b.  c,  was  marked  by  Cyrus, 
after  the  taking  of  Babylon,  proclaiming  by  a  formal  edict 
liberty  unto  the  Jews  to  return  to  their  own  land;  and  to  this 
work  he  was  specially  appointed.  (Isa.  xliv.  28;  xlv.  1,  13; 
2  Chron.  xxxvi.  22,  23;  Ezra  i.  2.) 

This  was  one  termination  of  the  period  of  seventy  years,  as 
the  first  invasion  of  Nebuchadnezzar  was  the  first  commence- 
ment.    But  the  predicted  desolation  was  not  completed  until 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         17 

eighteen  years  afterwards,  when  Nebuchadnezzar  took  Jeru- 
salem, and  fulfilled  to  the  letter  the  threatening  denounced  to 
Hezekiah.     (Isa.  xxxix.  5,7.) 

This  was  another,  or  second,  commencement  from  which  the 
captivity  might  be  dated;  and  exactly  seventy  years  afterwards 
it  was  responded  to  by  another  edict  of  the  kings  of  Persia, 
issued  by  Darius  Hystaspes,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign; 
forining  a  second  and  final  termination. 

As,  in  the  First  Period,  it  was  noticed  that  Egypt  and  Canaan 
were  signally  punished;  so,  in  the  present  instance,  similar 
calamities  were  threatened  to  Babylon.  (Jer.  xxv.  12;  Isai. 
xlvii.  6;  xiii.  19—22.) 

Had  these  fearful  predictions  been  known  to  the  Babylonians, 
they  would  have  looked  upon  them  with  the  same  unbelief  and 
indifference  as  we,  in  this  age,  contemplate  the  still  more 
fearful  judgments  which,  under  the  same  oppressive  7iame  of 
Babylo?i,  are  intended  to  fall  upon  those  nations  which  are  now, 
and  have  been — what  Babylon  once  was — persecutors  of  the 
Lord's  people,  both  Jews  and  Christians.  (Rev.,  xvi.  19.  See 
also  Jer.  i.  51;  Rev.  xvii.  xviii.) 

These  heavy  judgments,  pronounced  in  their  primary  appli- 
cation against  Babylon  of  old,  were  not  only  threalened,  but  to 
the  very  letter  executed.  And  if  Babylon,  so  much  against  all 
probability,  fell,  what  security  have  the  nations  of  Europe,  in 
their  armies  and  in  their  navies  and  in  their  other  fancied  re- 
sources, against  the  equally  express  declarations  of  Jehovah? 
If  God  has  said,  their  oppressors  shall  all  be  overthrown,  that 
word  must  be  accomplished. 

The  covenant  relations  in  which  God  stands  towards  the 
Jews,  attach  an  inexpressible  degree  of  importance  to  them  as 
a  people.  Nations  which  have  in  former  times  oppressed  them, 
have  incurred  Jehovah's  severest  vengeance:  and  it  may  be 
added,  that  nations  which  have  been  kind  to  them,  have  had 
their  cup  of  judgment  mingled  with  mercy.  The  Persian 
monarchs,  in  many  instances,  treated  the  Jews  with  distin- 
guished favour:  they  issued  edicts  b}'  which  they  were  rein- 
stated, under  Zerubbabel,  Ezra,  and  Nehemiah,  in  their  own 
land:  and  hence  the  kingdom  of  Persia  to  this  day  exists; 
whilst  Babylon  is  a  desolation  (Isa.  xiii.  19);  whilst  also  ancient 
Greece  and  Pagan  Rome  have  been  utterly  overthrown! 


VOL.  III. — 2 


1§  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 


PERIOD  IV. 

From  the  Edict  given  to  Ezra  in  the  seventh  year  of  Artaxerxes,  to 
the  Death  of  Christ;  490  years,  from  457-6  b.  c.  to  a.  d.  33 
or  34. 

The  Prophecy.    Dan.  ix.  1,  4,  20—27. 

As  the  Jewish  church  was  noticed  to  be  represented  as  the 
moon,  so  we  have  now  come  to  her  last  quarter.  Those  espe- 
cial manifestations  which  had  hitherto  been  her  peculiar  glory, 
almost  ceased;  her  solemn  ordinances  and  significant  institutions 
became  almost  empty  ceremonies,  observed  in  the  mere  letter; 
and  when  He  came,  who  was  predicted  in  this  prophecy,  he 
found,  under  a  fair  outside,  all  was  emptiness  and  rottenness 
within. 

Her  history  was  left,  at  the  close  of  the  last  Period,  connect- 
ed with  that  of  the  kingdom  of  Persia;  and  from  henceforward 
becomes  connected  in  the  vicissitudes  of  the  ruling  nations  of 
the  world.  The  edicts  of  Cyrus,  and  afterwards  of  Darius 
Hystaspes,  granted  them  great  privileges;  but  a  more  extra- 
ordinary interposition  in  their  favour  is  recorded  in  the  Book 
of  Esther:  God,  in  his  wonderful  providence,  elevated  a 
Jewess  to  the  throne  of  Persia,  and  raised  Mordecai,  her  near 
relative,  to  the  situation  of  prime  minister.  To  carry  still 
further  his  gracious  designs  towards  his  people  into  effect, 
Ataxerxes  granted  to  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  two  similar  edicts  to 
those  of  Cyrus  and  Darius;  the  former  in  the  year  b.  c.  457, 
and  the  latter  in  the  year  444.  The  one  given  to  Ezra  was 
the  most  important,  and  is  fixed  as  the  commencement  of  the 
seventy  weeks  of  this  prophecy;  and  ought  probably  to  be  con- 
sidered as  the  commencement  of  another  yet  unfulfilled  Period. 
(Ezra  vii.  11—26.) 

Considering  the  Jewish  church  and  state  to  have  lasted  2000 
years — that  is,  from  the  time  of  Abraham  to  the  death  of 
Christ — Abraham  stands  at  the  head  of  the  first  quarter;  Moses, 
the  second;  David,  the  third;  and  Ezra,  the  fourth  and  last;  each 
portion  occupying  about  500  years.  So  that  his  name  stands 
in  juxta-position  with  the  three  most  important  characters  in 
the  holy  Scriptures:  and  this  appears  to  be  the  proper  and  true 
point  of  time  from  whence  to  date  the  commencement  of  the 
2300  years,  relating  to  the  more  important  cleansing  of' the 
same  holy  sanctuary. 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         19 

With  regard  to  the  great  event  that  termi?iates  this  490  years, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  There  was  only  one  event  that  ever 
hapjDcned  in  this  world  which  could  be  said '<to  finish  the  trans- 
gression, make  an  end  of  sins,  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity, 
and  bring  in  everlasting  ^righteousness;"  and  that  event  was 
the  Death  of  Christ,  the  God-man  Mediator  (see  1  Pet.  i.  10, 
11).  The  salvation  thus  wrought  out  by  the  blood  and  right- 
eousness of  Christ,  was  the  antitype  of  all  that  had  been 
shadowed  forth  by  the  priests  in  all  their  sacrifices  and  offer- 
ings from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  It  was  the  main  thing 
that  had  been  pointed  at  by  the  various  institutions  of  the 
ceremonial  Law;  it  is  the  subject  which  runs  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  Psalms,  and  all  subsequent  prophecy;  and  it 
finished  the  Levitical  dispensation. 

And  here  let  it  be  observed — and  it  ought  to  arrest  the  at- 
tention of  every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam — that  in  naming 
the  time  when  this  all-important  transaction  should  take  place, 
it  is  conveyed  in  language  expressive  of  the  grand  essentials  of 
the  Gospel,  in  opposition  to  every  other  scheme  of  salvation 
devised  or  trusted  to  by  man. 

First,  That,  by  the  fall  and  transgression  of  our  first  parents, 
sin  and  sorrow  and  misery  were  entailed  upon,  and  have  followed, 
all  their  posterity,  in  all  successive  generations;  so  that  not  an 
individual  has  escaped  the  pollution  (Gen.  vi.  5).  But  the 
penal  efiects  of  this  hereditary  guilt  are,  in  the  elect,  cancelled 
by  the  death  of  Christ;  for  by  this  one  great  sacrifice  "the 
transgression  was  finished:"  "As  in  Adam  all  died,  even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  Wide  and  extensive  as  were 
the  consequences  of  the  Fall,  so,  wide  and  extensive  are  like- 
wise the  consequences  resulting  from  the  Atonement,  as  far  as 
regards  the  curse  entailed  by  i?iherent  sin  and  pollution,  irre- 
spective of  believing  or  disbelieving,  and  when  unaccompanied 
by  actual  sin.  Hence  it  may  be  presumed  none  are  finally  lost 
irrespective  of  their  own  actions,  and  their  own  sins;  and  hence 
the  salvation  of  infants  and  idiots,  who  have  never  had  the 
power  of  sinning. 

But  the  efficacy  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  extends  likewise  to 
actual  guilt;  for  He  not  only  died  to  "finish  the  transgression," 
but  to  ^^make  an  e?id  of  sins."  The  condemnation  therefore  is, 
that  "light  is  come  into  the  world,  but  men  love  darkness  rather 
than  light,  because  their  deeds  are  evil."  There  is  no  limita- 
tion in  the  ofiered  mercy  (Is.  Iv.;  xliv.  22;  i.  IS).  Through 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  an  innumerable  company  have 
washed  in  this  overflowing  fountain  opened  for  sin  and  unclean- 
ness,  and  have  been  made  whole.  The  sins  of  persons  of  all 
characters,  and  of  all  degrees  of  guilt,  have  been  forgiven  and 


20  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

blotted  out,  through  the  blood  of  his  cross  (Matt.  i.   21;  Acts 
iv.  12;  Heb.  ii.  2,  3.) 

It  is  further  Implied,  however,  that  God  does  not  leave  the 
sinner  here.  lie  is  not  only  forgiven,  not  only  saved  from  the 
awful  consequences  of  sin;  but  he  is,  reconciled,  by  the  death 
of  Christ,  to  Him  from  whom  by  sin  he  is  so  awfully  estranged. 
Among  the  blessings  enumerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  through 
Daniel,  or  rather  through  Gabriel  who  addresses  Daniel,  it  is 
therefore  added,  that  this  great  event  also  was  ^Ho  make  recoji- 
ciliatio7i for  iniquity.^'  God  is  love:  hence  He  does  not,  in  the 
salvation  of  sinners,  merely  rescue  them  from  eternal  damna- 
tion— no;  He  adopts  him  into  his  family,  making  him  an  heir 
of  God  and  joint  heir  with  Christ.     (Rom.  viii.  17;  2  Cor.  v.  19.) 

It  is  an  act  peculiar  to  God  alone,  that,  in  pardoning  sin  and 
reconciling  us  to  Himself,  He  can  also  justify  and  make  us 
righteous;  for  the  death  of  Christ  was,  further,  to  "bring  in 
everlasting  righteoiisiiess;^^  clothed  in  which,  the  believer  stands 
perfect  and  complete  before  God.  (Ps.  xvii.  15;  Isa.  xxiii.  6; 
Rom.  viii.  33.)  Every  believer,  therefore,  stands  before  God 
not  merely  as  a  pardoned  and  reconciled  sinner,  but  he  stands 
as  justified — clothed  with  the  wedding-garment  of  Christ's 
righteousness;  pure  from  every  defilement;  "complete  in  Him.^' 
(Rom.  V.  19;  2  Cor.  v.  21.) 

Thus  clearly  is  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith  without 
the  deeds  of  the  Law,  expressed  by  Old-Testament  Prophets, 
as  involved  in  the  death  of  Christ.  It  is  this  doctrine  for 
which  so  many  martyrs  have  shed  their  blood:  it  was  by  this 
that,  under  God,  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Cranmer,  and  Knox, 
and  other  Reformers,  achieved  their  triumphs  over  the  errors 
of  Poperj':  and  it  is  the  saving  belief  of  this  that  emphatically 
constitutes  the  CAt/rc/i  of  Christ — that  true  church,  respecting 
which  so  much  is  said  in  the  prophetic  writings  of  the  New 
Testament,  particularly  in  the  Book  of  Revelation;  and  which 
is  destined  to  have  a  universal  triumph  over  every  system  of 
error  and  apostacy,  whether  in  the  shape  of  Mohammedanism, 
Popery,  Infidelity,  Socinianism,  or  any  other  human  scheme 
of  salvation;  and  in  which  the  Jew,  as  well  as  the  Gentile, 
shall  ere  long  be  enabled  to  rejoice. 

As  the  deliverance  from  Egypt,  on  the  night  when  the  first- 
born of  the  land  were  all  slain,  was  perpetuated  throughout  all 
the  generations  of  Israel  by  the  institution  of  the  Passover, 
which  conspicuously  typified  the  death  of  Christ;  so,  on  the 
very  evening  when  this  type  was  to  vanish  for  ever,  the  intro- 
duction of  a  new  dispensation  was  appointed  to  be  comme- 
morated by  another,  more  simple  and  significant,  standing 
ordinance,  to  be  observed  for  an  assigned  period  in  the  Christian, 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  21 

as  that  had  been  in  the  Jewish  church;  and  this  was,  the  insti- 
tution of  the  Lord's  Supper.    (1  Cor.  xi.) 

Our  attention  is  not  only  drawn,  in  the  24th  verse  of  the 
chapter  in  which  this  prophecy  is  contained,  to  those  four 
essential  points  of  doctrine  which  have  been  briefly  noticed — 
namely,  the  finishing  of  the  transgression,  making  an  end  of 
sins,  making  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  bringing  in  ever- 
lasting righteousness; — two  other  important  circumstances  are 
mentioned,  as  attendant  upon  or  following  the  death  of  Christ 
— the  "sealing  up  of  the  vision  a?id  the  prophecy,  a7td  anointing 
the  Most  Holy.''' 

By  the  "vision  and  the  prophecy,"  in  this  place,  is  undoubt- 
edly meant  the  revealed  word  of  God,  which  soon  after  the 
death  of  Christ  was  sealed  up,  or  completed.  (Heb.  i.  2;  Rev. 
xxii.  IS,  19.) 

Nevertheless,  although  He  had  closed  and  sealed  up  his 
revealed  word.  He  did  not  leave  himself  without  a  continued 
witness  in  the  church  by  the  gift  of  His  Holy  Spirit.  (John 
xvi.  13;  Acts  ii.  1,  4;  1  Cor.  vi.  19,20.) 

After  this  "sealing  up"  of  the  word  of  God  is  mentioned, 
the  list  is  thus  closed,  "A7id  to  anoint  the  Most  Holy.''  Thus 
signifying  that  it  is  the  ultimate  expectation  of  the  Christian 
church  to  welcome  her  coming  Lord:  and  hence  we  are  taught 
in  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  say,  "Thy  kingdom  come." 

Having  thus  noticed  the  great  events  which  mark  the  com- 
mencement and  termination  of  this  chronological  prophecy — 
namely,  the  commission gixen  to  Ezra,  and  the  death  of  Christ — I 
now  proceed  to  notice  some  peculiarities,  which  distinguish 
the  structure  of  this  famous  and  remarkable  prediction  from 
the  others  which  have  been  already  considered. 

i.  The  first  foretels  events  to  be  accomplished  within  seventy 
weeks,  in  general — which  were  brought  to  pass  by  the  death 
of  Christ — contained  in  the  24th  verse. 

ii.  The  second,  events  to  be  accomplished  precisely  at  the 
end  of  three  particular  periods,  into  which  the  said  general 
number  of  seventy  weeks  is  divided;  contained  in  the  25th, 
26th,  and  27th  verses.  This  divides  the  490  years  into  three 
particular  periods,  and  assigns  particular  events  to  be  precisely 
accomplished  at  the  end  of  each: 

First,  seven  weeks,  or  forty-nine  years.  The  building  of 
Jerusalem,  begun  by  Ezra,  and  finished  by  Nehemiah  40S  b.  c. 

Second,  sixty-two  weeks,  or  434  years.  The  beginning  of 
Christ's  ministry. 

Third,  one  week,  or  seven  years.     In  the  "half"  of  which 
happened  the  death  of  Christ. 
2* 


22  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

iii.  The  third  peculiarity,  that  its  commencement  could  not 
be  knovvn  till  after  its  completion,  because  it  could  not  a  priori 
be  determined  which  of  the  four  "commandments"  issued  by 
the  kings  of  Persia  was  the  one  fixed  upon  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
in  assigning  the  date  of  490  years:  and  because  the  termination 
referred,  not  to  the  birth,  but  to  the  death  of  Christ. 

iv.  Another  peculiarity  is,  that  the  length  of  time  is  not 
given  in  the  plain  term  of  years,  but  in  the  prophetical  language 
of  weeks  of  years — as  is  expressed  in  Ezekiel,  "a  year  for  a 
day."     See  also  Num.  xiv.  34. 

V.  The  last  remark  is,  that  the  point  which  marks  its  ter- 
mination— A.  D.  33,  or  according  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton  a.  d.  34 
— was  but  the  introduction  to  a  series  of  eve/its,  which  was  to 
bring  about  a  consummation  of  evil  and  of  judgment  to  the 
Jewish  state.  But  it  was  not  till  the  Gospel  had  been  preached 
to  the  murderers  of  the  Saviour  that  the  dreadful  threatenings 
were  fulfilled;  and  even  then  God  did  not  leave  them  without 
a  gracious  reservation.  (Hos.  iii.  4,  5;  Lukexxi.  24;  Rom.  xi. 
25;  also  12,  15.) 

It  is  evident  that  mercy  is  in  reserve  for  the  Jewish  people, 
and  that  they  will  ere  long  be  gathered  in  on  every  side,  and 
brought  to  their  own  land;  and  that  this  glorious  era  will  be 
the  introduction  of  a  new  dispensation  to  the  world. 

I  will  only  add  the  fervent  prayer,  that  the  ever-blessed 
Spirit  may  prepare  our  minds  for  His  coming  judgments; 
enable  us  to  keep  on  our  watch-tower,  with  our  loins  girt  and 
our  lamps  burning;  and  when  the  awful  blast  is  sounded, 
which  shall  reverberate  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
world  "It  is  done,"  may  we  be  able  to  lift  up  our  heads  with 
joy,  to  meet  our  coming  and  adorable  Lord  and  Saviour. 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  23 


PART  II. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Explanation  of  the  Seals,  Trumpets,  and  Vials. 

Before  we  proceed  in  the  regular  order  of  the  Periods,  it 
will  be  found  of  material  advantage  briefly  to  turn  our  atten- 
tion to  the  symbolical  visions  of  the  Apocalypse.  I  consider 
the  Seven  Seals  and  the  Seven  Trumpets,  as  descriptive  oi  hoo 
distinct  series  of  events,  running  in  nearly  parallel  lines. 

The  first  of  these  series,  being  given  under  the  emblematic 
representation  of  the  opening  of  Seals,  has  a  reference  to  those 
great  events  which  were  to  receive  the  stamp  of  legitimate 
authority,  or  the  seals  of  established  empire. 

The  second  series,  being  given  under  the  opposite  emblem  of 
the  sounding  of  Trumpets,  represents  those  events  which  were 
to  be  ushered  in  by  successful  invasions,  ravages,  and  over- 
throws; by  the  "sound  o?  trumpet  and  the  alarm  of  war. " 

Before  applying  these  general  principles  to  the  events  of 
history,  we  must  refer  to  the  unfulfilled  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  appear  to  be  the  six  following: — 

1.  The  destruction  of  the  undivided  Roman  Empire — repre- 
sented by  the  cutting  down  the  great  tree  of  Nebuchadnezzar; 
tlie  demolition  of  which  did  not  take  place  until  the  empire 
was  attacked  by  the  barbarous  nations;  when  it  was  bound 
together  by  a  "band  of  iron  and  brass,"  or  by  the  Latin  and 
Greek  kingdoms. 

2.  The  division  of  the  Western  or  Latin  branch  of  the  Roman 
Empire  into  ten  kingdoms — predicted  by  the  ten  toes  of  the 
great  image,  and  the  ten  horns  of  the  monstrous  wild  beast. 

3.  The  springing  up  of  the  little  Papal  horn,  or  kingdoiTi,  in 
the  midst  of  these  ten  kingdoms,  which  was  to  do  such  great 
things;  into  whose  hands  the  saints  were  to  be  given,  and 
which  was  to  wear  them  out  by  its  persecutions,  and  that  for 
1260  years. 


24  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

4.  The  similar  springing  up  of  the  Mohammedan  little  horn, 
out  of,  or  behind,  one  of  the  four  Grecian  kingdoms,  into 
which  Alexander's  conquests  were  divided;  and  which  was  to 
profane  the  sanctuary,  cast  the  truth  down  to  the  ground,  and 
to  "practise  and  prosper." 

5.  The  rise  of  the  still  professedly  more  anti-Christian  power 
of  Infidelity,  which  was  to  appear  towards  the  close  of  the 
1260  years,  or  towards  the  "time  of  the  end;"  and  which  was 
to  magnify  itself  above  every  God;  and  for  a  short  time  to 
enjoy,  in  its  blasphemies  and  persecutions,  a  course  of  extra- 
ordinary prosperity. 

6.  The  breaking  in  pieces  and  total  disruption  of  the  king- 
doms of  this  world,  and  the  subsequent  setting  up  of  Messiah's 
kingdo7n,  predicted  b}'  the  destruction  of  Daniel's  great  image, 
and  also  in  the  Psalms  and  Prophets. 

It  may  be  observed,  that  the  Seals  refer  to  events  more  par- 
ticularly connected  with  the  affairs  of  the  Church;  the  Trum- 
pets, to  secular  events  with  which  such  Church  affairs  were 
connected;  the  Vials,  irrespectively  to  both   series  of  events. 

The  Seals  from  the  first  series  of  Apocalyptic  visions — from 
their  referring  to  events  which  happened  foremost  in  the  order 
of  time,  and  from  their  bringing  into  the  Church  that  daring 
imposture,  which  drew  down  Divine  vengeance,  and  brought 
on  the  judgments  of  the  Trumpets. 

Popery,  which  had  commenced  in  the  time  of  the  early 
Christians,  became  legalized  and  established  by  four  distinct 
acts  or  decrees  of  Roman  Emperors. 

First  Seal. — The  ratification  of  the  canons  of  the  Council 
of  Nice  by  Constantine,  a.d.  325.  The  seal  of  the  triumph  of 
Christianity  over  Paganism — hence  a  "white  horse,"  a  "bow" 
and  "a  crown." 

Second  Seal. — A  decree  issued  by  the  emperor  Gratian, 
A.D.  379.  This  slaughtering  and  bloody  period  is  justly  ex- 
pressed by  a  "great  sword"  and  "red  horse." 

Third  Seal. — An  edict  issued  by  Valentinian  III.,  a.d.  445. 
The  state  of  the  church  was  one  of  gross  ignorance  and  dark- 
ness. Dissensions  continued.  The  vices  and  corruptions  of 
the  clergy,  and  the  many  heresies  that  prevailed,  produced  a 
famine  of  the  faithful  preaching  of  the  Gospel — thus  a  "black 
horse,"  "a  scarcity  of  bread,"  and  a  "pair  of  balances,"  are 
expressive  symbols. 

Fourth  Seal. — The  celebrated  edict  of  Justinian,  a.d.  533, 
which  fully  established  Popery,  by  acknowledging  the  Pope 
head  of  all  the  churches.  The  desolation  to  the  true  church 
which  this  caused,  is  truly  expressed  by  "Death"  and  "Hell." 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         25 

This  event,  as  forming  the  first  commencement  of  the  period 
of  1260  years,  will  be  hereafter  more  fully  considered. 

Fifth  Seal. — The  great  Treaty  of  Passau,  a.d.  1552,  the  era 
of  the  Reformation;  when  the  Reformed  Churches  had  many 
privileges  confirmed  to  them,  and  were  acknowledged  as  a 
separate  religious  body.  It  expresses  d,  feeling  of  disappoint- 
ment at  such  a  termination  of  the  Reformation;  for  it  left  the 
<'souls  under  the  altar,"  who  had  been  slain  for  the  faith  of 
Jesus,  rather  in  a  state  of  expectation  than  of  joy. 

Sixth  Seal — The  events  represented  by  this  seal  form  the 
termination  alike  of  the  "Fifth  and  Seventh  Periods,"  or  those 
of  2520  and  1260  years. 

The  French  Revolution,  in  the  progress  of  which  Francis 
II.  issued  a  proclamation,  by  which  he  placed  the  affairs  of  the 
church  under  the  dominion  of  Napoleon,  the  infidel  Emperor 
of  France,  who  now  became  the  seventh  head  of  the  Roman 
empire  and  the  successor  of  the  Csesars.  The  language  used, 
after  the  opening  of  this  seal,  commences  by  stating  the  fact 
that  there  shall  be  a  great  revolution.  That  which  in  1789 
broke  out  in  France  answers  all  the  other  particulars;  and  God 
grant  that  the  referring  the  momentous  events  which  have  cha- 
racterized the  present  period  of  the  world  to  their  proper  place 
in  the  prophetic  page,  may  be  the  means  of  stirring  up  many 
to  sigh  and  cry  for  the  abominations  of  the  land. 

But  the  correctness  of  this  application  of  the  events  of  the 
Sixth  Seal,  to  those  of  the  French  Revolution,  admits  of  still 
clearer  demonstration;  and  that  from  another  series  of  events, 
which  is  symbolized  by  the  pouring  out  of  Seven  Vials.  They 
are  denominated  the  seven  last  plagues;  and  bear  the  most 
convincing  proof  that  they  are  interwoven  with  the  last  two 
of  the  seven  seals,  with  the  ceasing  of  the  sixth  and  the  sound- 
ing of  the  seventh  trumpet. 

In  introducing  them  (Rev.  xv, )  the  Apostle  saw  those  who 
are  represented  in  the  Fifth  Seal  as  feeling  disappointment  at 
God's  delaying  vengeance,  now  expressing  the  most  perfect 
approbation  of  his  righteous  and  merciful  dispensations. 

The  symbolical  representations  of  the  first  five  of  these  vials 
(Rev.  xvi.),  furnish  a  connected  historical  outline  of  those 
great  events  which,  in  the  Sixth  Seal,  were  given  in  general 
terms  and  without  regard  to  order;  likewise  they  exhibit,  in 
five  distinct  scenes,  the  different  aspects  which  these  awful 
judgments  assumed,  from  their  rise  in  1789  to  their  close  in 
1815. 

First  Vial. —  The  ^'noisome  and  grievous  sore,''^  was  the 
prevalence  of  the  spirit  of  revolution  and  infidelity  in  all  the 
countries  overrun  by  the  French  armies,  from  1789  to  1793. 


26  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

Second  Vial. — The  "sea,"  in  the  language  of  prophecy,  de- 
notes a  nation,  or  nations,  in  a  state  of  violent  agitation,  set  free 
from  the  restraints  of  all  laws,  and  in  the  wildest  disorder. 
Such  was  France  during  the  reign  of  terror,  between  1793 
and  1796. 

Third  Vial. — By  "rivers"  I  understand  the  richest  and 
most  fertile  parts  of  the  empire;  and  by  "fountains  of  wa- 
ters," those  parts  or  places  which  are  more  eminently  the  head 
quarters,  the  principal  possessions,  &c.  of  the  church.  The 
Divine  vengeance  fell  upon  those  Papal  states  and  nations  con- 
nected with  the  Papal  dominions,  from  1796  to  1806. 

Fourth  Vial. — France,  as  the  instrument  of  the  Lord's  ven- 
geance under  the  former  vial,  was,  with  the  exception  of  the 
last  year  or  two,  a  Republic.  But  after  the  Emperor  of  Aus- 
tria's renunciation  of  the  headship  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Na- 
poleon, who  had  been  crowned  King  of  Italy,  became  the 
"sun"  of  the  Western  Roman  world,  and  its  "seventh  head." 
The  rays  of  this  political  sun  scorched  with  all  the  fury  of  an 
intolerable  military  despotism  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  from 
1806  to  1812. 

Fifth  Vial. — The  throne  of  the  Roman  Empire,  or  of  the 
wild  beast  of  Daniel's  vision,  or  of  the  infidel  beast  in  Rev. 
xvii.,  was  now,  on  Napoleon's  becoming  the  seventh  head, 
transferred  to  France.  This  vial  exhibits  the  downfall  of  that 
short-lived  imperial  power — one  of  the  most  memorable  re- 
verses the  world  ever  witnessed — from  1812  to  1815,  which 
ends  the  commotions  of  the  Sixth  Seal. 

Seventh  Seal.  (Rev.  viii.) — Admitting  that  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  former  six  seals  is  correct,  it  must  follow  that  the 
operation  of  the  Seventh  is  now  rapidly  going  on,  and  that 
for  the  last  nineteen  years  we  have  been  living  under  its  influ- 
ence. Its  character  is  neither  that  of  expectation  nor  of  retri- 
bution, but  o(  silence — of  awful  suspense.  It  is  an  interval  in 
the  work  of  desolation — such  perhaps  as  preceded  the  Deluge 
during  the  building  of  the  Ark,  or  such  a  one  as  preceded  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  after  the  death  of  Christ. 

The  event  which  gave  it  the  seal  oi  empire,  was  the  abdica- 
tion of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  June  1815.  This  great  act  is 
confessedly  connected  with  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Europe 
as  important  as  has  ever  been  recorded.  It  left  the  Roman 
world,  for  the  first  i'lme,  without  a  head;  thus  stamping  upon 
it  a  most  permanent  change. 

The  complicated  events  of  the  Sixth  Seal  are  arranged  and 
explained  by  the  frst  five  Vials;  those  of  a  more  quiet  cha- 
racter, under  this  Seventh  Seal,  will  be  found  to  be  explained 
by  the  sixth  Vial.     But  as  this  vial  contains  the  symbolical 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         27 

representation  of  two  such  silent  operations,  one  of  which  is 
connected  with  the  ceasing  of  the  Sixth,  or  Turkish,  ^^Trum- 
pet,"  it  will  serve  to  place  the  subject  in  a  more  striking  point 
of  view  if,  before  we  proceed  with  its  explanation,  we  consi- 
der the  whole  series  of  Trumpets  up  to  this  point  of  time. 

The  nature  of  the  events  signified  by  the  Trumpets  may  be 
briefly  summed  up  thus: 

1.  They  have  been  produced — not  by  means  of  international 
wars,  but — by  the  instrumentality  of  barbarous  nations  situated 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Roman  earth. 

2.  They  have  been  caused  by  great  external  violence,  of  the 
nature  of  invasions,  rapid  conquests,  and  comj)lete  over- 
throws. 

3.  They  have  uniformly  been  characterized  with  the  very 
worst  evils  attendant  on  war;  such  as  indiscriminate  slaughter, 
rapine,  devastation,  and  exterminating  ruin. 

First  Trumpet  (Rev.  viii.  7). — The  invasion  of  the  Northern 
Goths  under  Alaric,  a.d.  396. 

Second  Trumpet. — The  invasion  of  the  mighty  and  nume- 
rous hordes  of  the  Huns  under  Attila,  a.d.  433. 

Third  Trumpet. — The  devastation  made  by  the  Vandals,  un- 
der Genseric  and  their  persecutions,  a.d.  439. 

Fourth  Trumpet. — The  extinction  of  the  Western  Empire, 
under  Odoacer,  a.d.  476. 

The  three  following  are  ushered  in  as  Woe  Trumpets.  This 
proclamation  plainly  intimates,  that  the  calamities  of  these 
trumpets  shall  be  greater  and  more  terrible,  and  refer  to  events 
of  higher  importance,  than  the  four  former  ones;  and  hence 
our  attention  is  in  a  more  special  manner  called  to  their  con- 
tents, which  are  consequently  set  forth  with  more  particularity. 

Fifth  Trumpet. — The  Saracens,  who  propagated  the  religion 
of  Mahomet  by  the  sword. 

Sixth  T-umpet. — The  Turks,  who  in  a.d.  1453  overthrew 
the  Eastern  Empire,  by  the  taking  of  Constantinople,  under 
Mahomet  II. 

Thus  we  have  brought  up  the  trumpets  and  seals  to  the  pre- 
setit  time,  or  to  the  sixth  vial;  which  contains /rtjo  distinct  silent 
operations;  one  predicting  the  ceasing  of  the  Sixth  or  Turkish 
trumpet;  and  both  involving  and  explaining  the  characteristic 
<'silence"  of  the  Seventh  Seal. 

Sixth  Vial. — The  drying  up  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  The 
appearance  of  the  three  unclean  spirits  of  Despotism,  Infidelity, 
and  Popery;  the  issue  of  whose  conflicting  struggles  is  stated 
to  be,  to  gather  "the  kings  of  the  earth'^ — that  is^,  the  kings  of 
the  prophetic  earth — and  likewise  "of  the  whole  world,''  "to  the 
battle  of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty." 


2g  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

And  this  annunciation  being  followed  up  with  an  idea  of  its 
extreme  suddemiess,  an  earnest  admonition  for  all  to  be  on  their 
watch,  and  the  name  of  the  place  where  this  great  gathering  is 
to  be,  surely  implies  that  something  of  a  most  awful  nature  is 
to  take  place! 

Seventh  Trumpet. — We  may  with  certainty  conclude  it  will 
form  an  important  epoch  in  the  world,  and  a  time  of  extrenme 
"wrath"  and  vengeance. 

Seventh  Vial.  (Rev.  xv.  17 — 21.) — It  is  said,  first,  there  will 
ho.  great  commotio7is — "voices,  thunders,  and  lightnings;" — that 
these  will  be  followed  by  a  Great  Revolution,  so  '-great  and 
mighty^'  as  was  never  before  seen.  From  this  it  appears,  that  the 
spirit  of  insubordi7iation  and  i?ijidelity,  which  now  agitates  the 
nations,  will  ere  long  become  universally  triumphant,  and  pro- 
duce the  greatest  revolution  that  ever  was  known;  which  will 
be  followed  by  a  very  great  hail-storm,  or  a  great  Northern 
Invasion.  These  events  of  the  Seventh  Trumpet  and  the 
Seventh  Vial,  according  to  the  subsequent  chronology,  will 
happen  in  1843 — 4. 

The  connection  of  these  great  events  with  the  preservation 
of  a  "sealed"  people — with  "the  battle  of  that  great  day  of 
God  Almighty" — with  the  restoration  of  the  Jewish  nation — 
and  with  "the  kingdoms  of  the  world  becoming  the  kingdoms 
of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ,  will  be  hereafter  considered; 
and  I  now  conclude  by  saying,  that  while  all  should  "sigh  and 
cry  for  the  abominations  of  the  land,"  believers  ought  to  look 
beyond  the  present  darkened  atmosphere,  to  the  righteous  deal- 
ings of  God  therein — to  their  own  everlasting  safety  in  Christ, 
their  exalted  Head — to  the  dishonour  now  done  to  His  great 
Name  being  for  ever  effaced — and  to  the  new  and  glorious 
dispensation  which  will  ere  long  arise  on  the  world.  We 
may  all,  therefore,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  our  covenant  God 
and  Father  in  Christ,  join  with  Cowper,  the  poet  of  the  New 
Testament,  in  saying, 

"Haste  Ihen,  and  wheel  away  a  shatter'd  world, 
Ye  slow-revolving  seasons!  we  would  see 
(A  sight  to  which  our  eyes  are  strangers  yet) 
A  world  that  does  not  dread  and  hate  His  laws, 
And  suffer  for  its  crime;  would  learn  how  fair 
The  creature  is  that  God  pronounces  good; 
How  pleasant  in  itself  what  pleases  Him." 


OP  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY,  29 


PERIOD  V. 

This  Period  admits  of  a  double  application;  first,  to  the  king- 
dom of  Israel;  secondly,  to  the  kingdom  of  Judah.  Each  of 
these  distinct  applications  has  a  double  commencement  and  a 
double  ierminalio?i. 

First  applicatio7i  [Israel).  From  the  Final  Destruction  of  the  King- 
dom of  Israel  to  its  Restoration:  2520  years,  from  B.  C.  727  to 
A.  D.  1793;  and  from  B.  C.  Gil  to  A.  D.  184  3-4. 

The  Prophecy— hev.  xxvii.  14—28,  31—33,  40,  41, 42,  44,  45  (See  also  Dan. 
iv.  16,  23, 25,  32). 

The  Jews  are  kept,  not  only  as  witnesses  against  themselves, 
but  as  the  Lord's  witnesses  in  all  quarters  of  the  world,  sepa- 
rate and  distinct  from  all  other  people. 

The  writings  of  the  Prophets  may  be  considered  a  continua- 
tion of  scriptural  or  inspired  history,  one  leading  subject  of 
which  is  the  reiteration  of  the  gracious  designs  of  God  with 
regard  to  his  ancient  people  of  Israel.  And,  assuredly,  as  their 
punishments  and  their  unexampled  sufferings,  recorded  in  this 
history,  have  received  a  literal  accomplishment,  so  also  shall 
the  promises  of  their  restoration  and  future  glory.  The  apathy 
and  indifference  shewn  by  the  world,  and  by  Christian  nations 
in  particular,  to  the  high  destinies  which  await  the  Jews,  as 
clearly  revealed  in  the  immutable  word  of  God,  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  the  prevailing  infidelity  of  the  age.  We  are 
so  accustomed  to  look  upon  the  Jews  as  a  powerless  and  con- 
temptible people,  from  whom  nothing  can  possibly  be  appre- 
hended, that  we  consider  it  impossible  that  they  can  have  any 
influence  in  the  great  movement  that  has  for  the  last  forty  years 
been  going  forward  in  Europe,  and  the  effects  of  which  still 
threaten  to  rock  every  kingdom  to  its  very  centre.  The  lan- 
guage of  Prophecy  speaks  otherwise,  Num.  xxiii.  24;  Micah 
V.  8,  9,  15;  vii.  16,  17;  Zech.  x.  3—6;  Jer.  li.  20—24.  As 
to  the  question — How  can  these  things  be? — we  have  only  to 
believe  that  what  God  has  promised  He  is  able  to  perform: 
"The  zeal  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  will  perform  this"  (Isa.  ix.  7; 
Jer.  xxiii.  7,  8;  Micah  vii.  15;  Ezek.  xx.  33 — 36;  Isa.  xi.  11, 
12;  Jer.  xxxii.  37,  38;  Amos  ix.  15;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  33 — 35; 
Isa.  Ixi.  4—6). 

VOL.   III. — 3 


30  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY. 

The  fact  appears  clear  that  both  the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and 
Judah  shall  be  restored  to  their  own  land:  and  the  question 
here  starts,  how  long  shall  it  be  ere  this  happy  consummation 
takes  place? 

The  perfection  of  calamity,  which  has  fallen  upon  the  whole 
Jewish  nation,  has  aperfectio?i  of  duration  attached  to  it,  in  the 
clear,  intelligible,  and  Divinely  accredited  term  of  seven  times, 
named  in  four  several  places  in  this  important  prophecy  of  the 
26th  chapter  of  Leviticus. 

The  celebrated  Mede,  who  wrote  on  prophecy  above  two 
hundred  years  ago,  considered  that  the  three  times  and  a  half 
of  Daniel  and  St.  John  were  the  bisection  of  a  complete  num- 
ber of  seven  times;  which  he  called  the  sacred  calendar,  or  the 
great  almanac  of  prophecy;  and  to  which  he  thought  "all  men- 
tion of  times  in  Scripture  had  reference." 

The  reasons  which  have  induced  me  to  consider  the  often- 
repeated  mention  of  the  term  in  Lev.  xxvi.,  as  well  as  in  Dan. 
iv.,  as  having  a  chronological  signification,  are  these — 

1.  From  its  being  mentioned  in  this  place  in  immediate  con- 
nection with  Israel's  and  Judah's  awful  punishment.  Also  in 
other  places:  Gen.  xxxiii.  3;  Josh.  vi.  4 — 15;  1  Kings  xviii. 
43,  &c. 

2.  There  exists  a  probability  that  this  "seven  times"  has  a 
chronological  import,  from  the  actual  time  to  which  the  event 
which  it  represents  has  already  run,  in  connection  with  the 
signs  of  the  times,  and  the  general  expectation  of  the  church. 
Israel's  first  captivity  took  place  b.c.  677-6.  Add  this  to  a.d. 
1835,  and  this  captivity  has  already  lasted  2511-2  years.. 
"Seven  times,"  or  360  multiplied  by  7,  is  2520:  it  follows, 
that  the  whole  period  has  only  eight  or  ni?ie  years  to  run. 

3.  The  great  national  shocks  which  attended  Israel's  and 
Judah's  fall,  have  been  responded  to  by  corresponding  shocks, 
portending  their  deliverance,  and  the  downfall  of  the  nations 
who  oppressed  them,  calculating  "seven  times,"  or  2520  years, 
as  the  intervening  period.  The  events  which  preceded  the 
destruction  of  the  Ten  Tribes  were — first,  the  calling  in  of  Ti- 
glath  Pileser  king  of  Assyria,  by  Ahaz  king  of  Judah;  who  slays 
Rezin,  and  leads  a  small  part  of  Israel  into  captivity,  b.c.  740. 
B.  c.   731.  Shalmaneser  invades  Palestine,  and  makes  Samaria 

tributary  to  him. 
727.  He  carries  Israel  into  captivity. 
724.  — lays  siege  to  Samaria. 
722.  —  takes  Samaria  a  second  time. 
714.  Sennacherib  invades  Judea. 

708. loses  his  army  before  Jerusalem. 

677.  Esarhaddon  finally  extinguishes   the  kingdom  of 

Israel. 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         31 

The  corresponding  dates  to  this  chronology,  calculating  the 
intervening  period  of  "seven  times,"  or  2520  years,  are  the 
following: — 

B.C.   740          -       was  responded  to  in       -         17S0  a.d. 
731 1789 

727 1793 

724         -.-.-.         1796 

722 1798 

714 1806 

708 1812 

677         -     will  be  responded  to  in     -          1843-4 

It  now  remains  to  be  shewn  that  the  shocks  among  the  na- 
tions which  were  caused  by  the  French  Revolution,  have  cor- 
responded to  those  which  preceded  and  hastened  Israel's 
ruin. 

The  leading  characteristic  of  the  French  Revolution  was 
Atheism;  the  open  avowal  of  which  by  the  leading  members 
of  the  National  Convention,  and  by  the  nation  in  general,  was 
a  most  extraordinary  moral  phenomenon. 

The  first  overt  act  which  gave  impulse  to  this  diabolical  prin- 
ciple, occurred  in  1780,  when  the  French  army  having  imbibed 
revolutionary  principles  in  America,  on  its  return  spread  them 
throughout  France. 

This  event — by  which  the  king  of  France,  like  the  king  of 
Judah  in  inviting  the  Assyrians  to  his  help  2520  years  before, 
nourished  a  principle  which  produced  such  awful  consequences 
to  himself  and  his  kingdom — happened  in  the  year  in  which 
this  prophetic  chronology  requires  it  should  have  happened — 
namely  1780. 

The  next  dates,  of  1789  and  1793,  equally  correspond  to 
those  of  731  and  727  B.C.,  and  bring  us  to  the  acme  of  that  awful 
catastrophe  by  which  the  nicely  poised  balance  of  power  among 
the  European  nations,  and  the  old  institutions  and  long-esta- 
blished barriers  of  civil  society,  were  shattered  to  the  earth,  the 
constitution  of  the  Republic  formerly  proclaimed,  the  Christian 
era  abolished,  all  religious  worship  suppressed,  and  death  de- 
clared to  be  an  eter?ial  sleep.  Thus  was  the  important  event  of 
Shalmaneser's  carrying  the  Israelites  into  captivity,  and  de- 
stroying the  well-being  of  their  nation,  responded  to  by  an 
equally  important  event  that  has  shaken  all  modern  kingdoms 
previous  to  their  restoration. 

The  next  date,  1796,  brings  us  to  the  first  appearing  of  God's 
modern  scourge,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  in  this  year  began 
his  victorious  career,  as  the  leader  of  the  infidel  hosts,  against 
the  Papal  nations.     In  1798  the  French  army  took  and  entered 


32  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

Rome;  making  the  Pope  a  prisoner,  banisliing  the  cardinals, 
and  abolishing  for  the  time  the  whole  system  of  Popery. 

In  1806,  Napoleon  obliged  the  Emperor  of  Germany  to 
resign  his  imperial  headship  over  the  Western  Empire;  thus 
abolishing  for  ever  the  ^^sixih  head,^^  or  form  of  government,  and 
establishing  in  his  own  person  the  "seventh  head;"  making 
himself  King  of  Italy,  and  being  crowned  by  the  Pope.  It 
was  this  act  which  constituted  him  the  ^'siai"  of  the  empire. 
And  it  was  in  the  year  corresponding  to  this,  when  Senna- 
cherib, a  similarly  blasphemous  character,  first  appeared  in  the 
land  of  Judea;  and  for  several  years,  that  is,  from  714  to  708 
B.C.,  was  a  scourge  both  to  Israel  and  Judah:  until,  in  the  latter 
year,  his  immense  army  was  destroyed  in  a  miraculous  manner 
before  Jerusalem.  In  a  similar  way  Napoleon,  after  he  became 
head  of  the  Empire  for  the  same  number  of  years — from  1806 
to  1812 — by  a  similar  interposition  of  Providence  lost  in  the 
snows  of  Russia  a  host  more  than  double  in  number  the  army 
of  Sennacherib. 

4.  Another  reason  which  has  induced  me  to  consider  the 
expression  "seven  times"  as  a  chronological  term,  is  the  pre- 
sent "sig?is  of  the  times.'' 

i.  The  nations  of  the  earth  are  again  rearing  the  standard  of 
hifidelitii. 

ii.  The  renewed  efforts  of  Poj:»er7/ to  propagate  its  anti-Chris- 
tian abominations. 

iii.  The  zvasting  azvay  oi'  the  Ottoman  Empire. 

iv.  The  propagation  of  the  Gospel  through  the  world  by 
means  of  Religious  Societies  and  Missionaries.  Matt.  xxiv.  14; 
Rev.  xiv.  6,  7. 

V.  The  extraordinary  movement  that  has  been  made  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Jews  by  the  Lord's  people. 

vi.  The  fatal  security  and  indifference  shewn  by  the  world 
during  the  present  calm  to  any  a]5proach  of  danger. 

In  the  contents  of  the  sixth  Vial  we  have  these  "signs  of  the 
times,"  and  here  the  book  of  Revelation  perform  the  oj/ice  of 
a  livi?ig  prophet. 

The  mystical  "drying  up  of  the  Euphrates,"  to  prepare  the 
way  of  the  kings  of  the  East,  is  generally  understood  to  mean, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  return  of  the  Te?i  Tribes,  which  were 
carried  captive  into  the  Eastern  nations  by  the  kings  of  Assy- 
ria: but  I  think  the  term  "kings"  had  a  more  literal  significa- 
tion, and  that  it  means  real  sovereigns.  What  at  present  con- 
stitutes the  kingdom  of  Turkey  (which  threatens  very  shortly 
to  be  in  the  hands  of  Russia),  and  the  kingdom  of  Egypt — are 
called  by  Daniel  (xi.  40),  ^^King  of  the  J\'orlh,"  and  "King  of 
the  South" — but  with  regard  to  the  Infidel  powers  against  whom 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  33 

the  latter  is  said  to  "push"  and  the  former  to  come  "like  a 
whirlwind,"  they  are  "kings  of  the  East,'''  as  they  form  the 
eastern  boundary  of  Europe. 

The  next  particular  in  this  Vial,  as  forming  another  "sign  of 
the  times,"  is  the  existence  of  three  distinct  master-"spirits," 
unclean,  like  frogs:  the  spirits  of  devils — Despotism,  Infidelity, 
and  Popery.  The  final  issue  of  this  collision  is  here  said  to 
be,  to  gather  the  kings  of  the  earth  (that  is,  of  the  Western 
Roman  Empire),  and  of  the  whole  world,  unto  the  battle  of 
the  great  day  of  God  Almighty.  Joel  iii.  9 — 17;  Zeph.  iii.  8; 
Hag.  ii.  21,  22. 

Various  passages,  especially  Zech.xii.  11,  seem  to  point  out, 
as  the  site  of  this  great  battle  of  Armageddon,  the  Plain  of 
Megiddo,  the  place  where  King  Josiah  fell;  which  melancholy 
event  occasioned  so  much  mourning  in  Jerusalem.  Modern 
tavellers  have  described,  as  peculiarly  impressive,  the  grandeur 
of  this  vast  plain. 

Preparatory  to  this  consummation,  it  appears  that  Infidelity 
will  triumph  over  Popery,  and  Despotism  over  Infidelity. 

The  other  particular  to  which  the  attention  is  directed  in 
this  Vial,  besides  the  drying  up  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  ex- 
istence of  three  unclean  spirits,  is  the  sudde?iness  xvilh  which  its 
silence  shall  be  broken:  "Behold,  I  come  as  a  thief:  blessed  is 
he  that  watcheth."  How  can  any  one  be  on  the  watch, 
unless  he  see  the  danger  approaching;  and  how  can  he  see 
the  approaching  danger,  but  from  the  roll  of  prophecy?  That 
some  7vill  be  found  on  this  their  watch,  is  fully  implied;  and 
from  the  mode  of  sealing  described  in  Rev.  vii.,  that  there 
will  be  in  the  number  of  those  who  shall  have  oil  in  their 
lamps,  some  of  every  sect  and  denomination  called  Christian, 
but  one:  and  it  is  an  appalling  fact,  that  in  the  symbolical 
representation  of  the  elect  of  the  Christian  Church,  what 
are  described  under  the  names  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  al- 
though a  complete  number  of  twelve  is  mentioned,  yet  that  it 
is  not  the  complete  number;  for  one  tribe,  the  tribe  of  Dan,  is 
totally  omitted.  If  this  allusion  be  made  to  any  one  sect,  de- 
nomination, or  tribe  calling  itself  Christian,  it  is  easy  each  for 
himself  to  discover  to  which  it  refers  by  a  careful  perusal  of 
the  former  part  of  Rev.  xiv.;  where  is  described  the  mystical 
number  of  144,000  sealed,  as  those  who  "are  not  defiled  with 
women,"  i.e.  false  or  heretical  doctrine;  those  "who  follow  the 
Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth;"  and  those  who,  standing  in 
the  righteousness  of  Christ,  are  "without  fault  before  the  throne 
of  God." 

5.  The  last  reason  which  has  induced  me  to  consider  this 
term  of  "seven  limes"  as  chronological  is,  that  its  termination 
3* 


34  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

1843  or  1844  is  equally  the  termination  of  the  Fifth,  Sixth, 
and  Seventh  Periods. 

These  five  reasons  carry  strong  presumptive  evidence  that 
the  hypothesis  I  have  advanced  is  correct;  and  that  the  long 
period  of  Israel's  and  Judah's  captivity  and  dispersion  is  nearly 
at  an  end:  and  that  this  termination  will  correspond  to  the 
2520  years  from  the  final  ruin  and  destruction  of  the  kingdom 
of  Israel.  Further,  that  whenever  tiiis  time  arrives  ^Hhe  stone 
which  is  to  be  cut  without  hands,"  will  smite  the  great  sym- 
bolical image  of  Nebuchadnezzar — representing  the  four  suc- 
cessive general  monarchies — and  break  it  in  pieces;  when  they 
all  will  become  "like  the  chaff  of  the  summer  threshing  Jloor,  and 
the  'dind  will  carry  them  aicaij,  so  that  no  place  will  be  found  for 
them." 

The  awful  truth  that  this  state  of  things  is  fast  coming  upon 
us,  appears  to  be  the  burden  and  end  of  many  prophecies,  sym- 
bolical as  well  as  chronological;  some  of  which  have  been  al- 
ready noticed,  and  some  which  remain  to  be  considered.  It 
is  an  alarming  reflection,  on  reviewing  the  former,  that  if 
changes  so  extensive,  and  attended  with  so  many  calamities, 
have  characterized  these  intervening  epocha  of  this  great  period 
of  2520  years,  or  what  is  emphatically  termed  'Hhe  times  of  the 
Gentiles,"  of  what  nature  may  we  suppose  that  change  will  be 
which  closes  it? 


Second  application  [Judah).  From  the  Delhro7iement  of  the  House 
of  David,  and  the  Destruction  of  the  Kingdom  of  Judah,  to  the 
Millenniu7n:  2520  years,  from  B.C.  Qll,  to'A.D.  1843-4; 
a?idfrom  B.  C.  602  to  A.  D.  191S-9. 

It  will  appear  that  the  chronological  term  "seven  times," 
as  it  occurs  in  Lev.  xxvi.  and  Dan.  iv.,  has  likewise  a  special 
reference  to  the  tribe  of  Judah,  to  whom  God  gave  a  marked 
pre-eminence  in  its  being  the  chosen  tribe  from  which  the 
Messiah,  after  the  flesh,  was  to  descend;  and  to  which  a  grant 
of  the  sovereignty  was  distinctly  and  formally  given. 

There  have  been  two  separate  and  most  remarkable  grants 
given  to  the  posterity  of  Abraham.  First,  the  grant  of  Canaan 
which  is  common  to  all  the  tribes;  second,  the  grant  of  the 
throne  which  is  confined  to  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  the  house 
of  David.  2  Sam.  vii.  13,  16;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  3,  4,  35—37.  To 
both  of  which  grants  this  perfection  of  calamity  of  2520  years 
may  be  applied. 


OP  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  35 

The  crown  continued  in  one  unbroken  line  of  succession, 
from  David  to  Jehoiakim,  from  father  to  son,  for  about  450 
years,  though  many  were  wicked  (1  Kings  xv.  4;  2  Chron.  xxi. 
7),  and  were  on  the  brink  of  destruction  (2  Kings  xi.;  Isa.  vii. 
6);  but  was  preserved  till  Nebuchadnezzar's  invasion;  when, 
with  the  nation  in  general,  it  went  into  captivity. 

In  Period  three,  we  have  seen  that  there  were  two  com- 
mencements from  which  this  captivity  is  to  be  dated — 606  and 
5SS  B.C.;  it  must  therefore  be  somewhere  between  these  two 
points  of  time,  from  whence  the  loss  of  this  sovereign  autho- 
rity is  to  be  reckoned.  The  last  sovereign  act  of  Jehoiakim 
must  have  been  in  602  or  601  b.c. — 2  Kings  xxiv.  L  Conse- 
quently after  the  long  period  of  2520  years,  the  year  191S 
or  1919  A.D.  will  be  the  time  when  it  will  be  again  restored  to 
its  rightful  owner. 

And  who  is  this  rightful  owner?  The  genealogy  of  the  ro3^al 
house  of  David,  from  Jehoiakim  downward,  to  Christ,  is  given 
in  Matt.  i.  12 — 16.  He  was  thus  "legally  descended  from  the 
kings  of  Judah;"  and  consequently  is  the  legal  heir  to  the 
throne. 

The  grant  of  sovereignty  therefore  which  was  entailed  upon 
the  house  of  David,  is  thus  graciously  accepted  in  his  person 
as  God-man  Mediator,  by  him  who  conferred  it,  and  who  is  at 
once  the  root  as  well  as  the  offspring  of  David.  2  Sam.  vii.; 
Acts  ii.  30;  Luke  i.  30 — 33;  Ezek.  xxi.  26,  27.  At  his  first 
coming  he  came  to  suffer,  but  at  his  second  coming  it  will  be 
to  triumph.  Rev.  xix.  11 — 16.  The  house  of  Jacob  will  then 
be  an  united,  no  longer  a    divided  nation.   Ezek.  xxxvii. 

The  conclusion  appears  irresistible  from  so  many  strong  pas- 
sages in  the  Bible,  that  at  the  time  of  the  restitution  "of  all 
things,  Christ  will  take   unto  himself  his   great  power,  and 

REIGN. 

There  appears  no  doubt  but  that  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream  of 
the  great  tree  (Dan.  iv.  11  to  the  end)  represents  the  sove- 
reignties of  the  world  during  the  2520  years  during  which  Ju- 
dah was  deprived  of  the  throne.  This  appears  confirmed  by 
the  frequent  repetition  of  this  very  term  "seven  times,"  which 
runs  parallel  with  this  second  application  of  the  "seven  times," 
Lev.  xxvi.  The  moment  in  which  Judah  was  dethroned,  and 
lost  its  regal  honours,  that  moment  was  Nebuchadnezzar,  "the 
head  of  gold,"  invested  with  them:  when,  therefore,  the  house 
of  David  again  resumes  the  throne,  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
and  forms  a  Jiflh  general  mo?iarchi/,  then  will  every  other  rule 
and  authority  cease,  and  men  shall  know  that  the  Most  High 
ruleth  over  all.   Rev.  xx.  1 — 5. 


36  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 


PERIOD  VI. 

From  the  Edict  given  to  Ezra  in  the  seventh  year  of  Artaxerxes  to 
the  Cleansing  of  the  Sanctuary:  2300  years,  from  B.  C.  457  to 
A.  D.  1843-4. 

The  Prophecy. — Dan.  viii. 

"Two  thousand  three  hundred  days,"  in  this  place,  can  only 
mean  a  day  for  a  year,  or  two  thousand  three  hundred  years. 
At  this  period  misfortune  had  gathered  round  the  house  of 
Israel,  and  God  was  pleased  to  give  them,  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  Daniel,  a  variety  of  revelations,  all  reaching  to  the 
period  when  a  ierminatioTi  was  to  be  put  to  all  these  sufferings. 

The  present  vision,  under  the  symbols  of  a  ram  and  he-goat, 
gives  a  clear  but  concise  history  of  the  Persian  and  Grecian 
monarchies  (the  Babylonian  having  been  previously  over- 
thrown); and  then,  after  naming  the  division  of  Alexander's 
conquests  amongst  four  of  his  generals,  up  to  the  "latter  end" 
of  their  kingdom,  it  leaves  altogether  unnoticed  the  Roman 
Empire;  and  relates  the  history  of  that  new  power — the  king- 
dom founded  by  Mahomet  which  arose  "out  of,"  or  "behind," 
one  of  them.  The  conquests  of  Mahomet  are  accurately  de- 
scribed, Dan.  viii.  9;  and  these  limits  have  been  remarkably 
observed. 

The  object  of  this  prophecy  is  two-fold: — first,  to  describe 
the  power  that  should  be  raised  up  to  punish  the  apostacy  of 
the  East,  as  Popery  was  raised  up  to  be  a  scourge  to  that  of 
the  West;  and  second,  to  describe  this  power  as  enduring  for 
a  long  period.  History  proves  how  accurately  the  description 
has  been  drawn  in  verses  10 — 13. 

Mahomet  overthrew  the  altars  of  Jehovah.  With  the  im- 
pure pages  of  the  Koran  in  one  hand,  and  the  sword  in  the 
other,  he  established  a  religion  and  a  kingdom,  the  ferocity  of 
which  are  fearfully  represented  under  tlie  Fifth  and  Sixth 
Trumpets;  which  are  emphatically  denominated,  from  the 
misery  and  ruin  they  brought  upon  the  world,  '^woe  trumpets.'' 

This  horn  now  wanes  to  its  very  extinction;  the  Ottoman 
power  is  but  a  shadow.  "Then  shall  the  sanctuary  be  cleans- 
ed." Ezek.  xxxvii.  2G— 28;  xliii.  4,  7;  Isa.  Ix.  15,  18,  19. 

With  regard  to  the  new  temple  that  shall  be  built,  it  shall 
exceed  in  glory  all  that  have  gone  before  it.     God  has  also 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         37 

given  us  an  account  of  the  ceremonial  services  which  will  be 
observed  in  this  new  temple.  Ezek.  xliii.  xliv.  xlv.  For  I 
believe  the  word  of  God  should  be  interpreted  literally,  unless 
there  be  a  manifest  impossibility  that  it  should  be  otherwise. 
These  things  may  be  again  used,  to  have  a  retrospective,  as  they 
formerly  had  a  prospective,  aspect  to  the  great  atoning  sacri- 
fice of  Christ.  Ps.  li.  18,  19;  Mai.  iii.  4.  Perhaps  it  will  be  a 
commemorative  service,  in  place  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  which 
was  limited  in  its  duration  till  the  Lord's  second  coming. 
This  cleansing  of  the  sanctuary  will  not  be  merely  external. 
Ezek.  xxxvi.  24 — 27;  xxxvii.  24 — 28. 

The  difficulty  which  has  ever  been  experienced  in  regard  to 
the  chronology  of  2300  years  is,  when  to  fix  its  commencement. 
It  appears  to  me  that  it  should  be  dated  from  one  of  those  four 
edicts  of  the  kings  of  Persia  already  considered.  The  time 
at  which  they  were  issued  stands  thus: 

Edict  of  Cyrus     .         .         -         -         586  b.c. 
Edict  of  Darius  Hystaspes  -         518 

Edict  of  the  7th  year  of  Artaxerxes  457  or  456 
Edict  of  the  20th  of  ditto  -  -  444 
2300  years  calculated  from  each  of  these  dates,  will  bring  us 
to  A.D.  1764,  1782,  1843,  1856.  The  two  former  being  past, 
we  are  limited  to  the  two  edicts  of  Artaxerxes  given  to  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah.  As  the  commission  given  to  Ezra  is  the  event 
from  which  the  ^'Fourth  Period,"  relating  to  the  cleansing  of 
the  same  holy  sanctuary,  is  dated,  I  give  it  the  preference,  as 
that  from  which  the  commencement  of  these  2300  years  ought 
to  be  dated. 

This  also  brings  the  termination  to  1843  or  1844,  the  same 
year  in  which  the  consummations  of  all  the  prophecies  relative 
to  the  deliverance,  both  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  churches, 
centre.  The  final  termination  of  the  "seven  times"  was  prov- 
ed to  correspond  exactly  to  this  year — that  is,  2520  years  reck- 
oned from  677  or  676  B.C.,  the  date  of  Israel's  final  ruin;  and 
2300  years  reckoned  from  Ezra's  commission,  in  457  or  456 
B.  c,  both  terminate  in  1843  or  1844.  This,  as  it  regards  the 
former,  will  bear  to  be  expressed  as  the  ejid  of  the  times,  or  of 
"time"  (Rev.  x.  6;  see  Dan.  xii.  7);  whilst  that  of  the  latter 
is  expressed  as  "the  time  op  the  end."  Thus,  even  from 
the  peculiarity  of  expressions,  the  respective  consummations 
appear  to  be  one  and  the  same. 


38  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 


PERIOD  VII. 

From  the  giving  of  the  saints  into  the  hands  of  the  Papal  horn,  to 
the  inchoative  full  of  that  apostacy;  and  from  the  formation  of 
the  te?i  Papal  kijigdoms,  to  their  destruction:  12 GO  years,  from 
A.  D.  533  to  1793;  and  from  A.  D.  583  or  584  to  1843  or 
1844. 

The  peculiarities  in  tliis  period  are, 

I.  It  is  presented  under  three  distinct  aspects,  each  aspect  hav- 
ing the  chronology  of  1260  years,  expressed  by  a  different 
chronological  term. 

The  first  aspect  exhibits  Popery  as  it  appears  under  the 
actual  dominion  of  the  Pope  himself;  and  that  in  three  prophe- 
cies, in  each  of  which  the  duration  is  expressed  by  the  term 
of  three  times  and  a  half. 

The  1st  Prophecy  (Dan.  vii.  27)  is  expressed  as  "a  time, 
times,  and  the  dividing  of  time,"  and  presents  to  our  view  the 
rise,  character,  and  actions  of  Popery  under  the  emblem  of  a 
little  horn  rising  in  the  midst  of  the  ten  horns  of  the  Western 
Empire. 

The  2d  Prophecy  is  in  Dan.  xii.  7,  "time,  times,  and  a  half;" 
and  identifies  the  fall  of  Popery  with  that  of  Mohammedanism, 
or  the  "time  of  the  end;"  likewise  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  In- 
fidelity, with  the  deliverance  of  the  Jewish  nation,  with  an 
unprecedented  time  of  trouble,  and  with  a  partial  resurrection 
of  the  dead. 

The  3d  Prophecy  is  in  Rev.  xii.  14,  "a  time,  times,  and  half 
a  time;"  and  shews  the  means  which  God  had  provided  the 
true  church  for  its  preservation  during  the  awful  period  of  the 
dominion  of  the  head  of  the  Popish  apostacy. 

The  SECOND  ASPECT  exhibits  Popery  as  it  appears  under  the 
tyrannical  dominion  of  the  ten  Papal  kingdoms;  and  that  in  tzvo 
distinct  prophecies,  in  each  of  which  the  duration  of  1260 
years  is  expressed  by  the  term  "forty  and  two  months." 

The  1st  Prophecy  (Rev.  xi.  2)  names,  under  the  symbol  of 
outer-court  worshippers,  that  the  visible  church  shall  be  given 
during  this  long  period  into  the  hands  of  the  Papists. 

The  2d  Prophecy  (Rev.  xiii.  5)  particularly  describes  these 
Papists,  or  "Gentiles,"  as  forming  the  ten  kingdoms  of  the 
Western  Roman  empire. 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         39 

The  THIRD  ASPECT  exhibits  Popery  as  it  appears  in  the  de- 
pressed condition  of  the  true  church  of  Christ;  and  this  likewise 
in  two  prophecies,  expressed  by  the  chronological  term  of  "one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  days." 

The  1st  Prophecy  (Rev.  xi.  3)  describes  the  state  of  the  true 
church,  under  two  distinct  witnesses,  as  one  of  depression  and 
mourning. 

The  2d  Prophecy  (Rev.  xii.  6)  describes  a  place  of  refuge 
having  been  provided  for  the  church  during  this  its  period  of 
depression. 

II.  The  second  peculiarity  of  this  Period  is,  that  it  has  three 
durations,  1260,  1290,  1335  years  (Dan.  xii.  11,  12);  which 
will  be  considered  under  the  Second  Prophecy  of  the  First 
Aspect. 

III.  The  third  peculiarity  is,  that  this  Period  has  a  double 
commenceme?it  and  double  corresponding  termination. 

The  former  six  Periods  have  chiefly  had  a  reference  to  the 
Jews,  or  the  Eastern  Church:  the  present  Great  Period  pro- 
ceeds to  describe  the  apostate  power  of  the  West. 


riRST    ASPECT. 

First  Prophecy — Dan.  vii. 

What  is  to  be  understood  by  Popery,  may  be  found  in  2 
Thess.  ii.;  1  Tim.  iv.  1 — 3;  Rev.  xiii.  11 — 18.  As  the  vision 
which  was  the  subject  of  the  last  Period  was  explained  to  con- 
cern only  the  Empire  of  the  East;  so  the  present  vision,  after 
running  in  the  same  channel  until  it  arrives  at  the  division  of 
Alexander's  conquests,  takes  the  direction  of  the  West. 

The  application  of  the  respective  symbols  of  this  vision  to 
the  empires  which  they  represent,  is  very  striking — but  the 
vocabulary  of  nature  had  been  exhausted  to  find  out  a  monster 
sufficiently  horrible,  the  beast  without  a  name  being  descriptive 
of  the  rapacity,  strength,  and  tyranny  of  ancient  Rome.  This 
stupendous  empire  seemed  destined  to  stand  for  ever.  It  was 
Satan's  proudest  work,  the  citadel  of  his  strength,  when  it 
pleased  God  that  He  who  was  to  destroy  the  works  of  the 
arch-enemy  of  mankind  should  be  born. 

It  is  said,  it  had  ten  horns;  and  that  these  horns  "are  ten 
kings  that  shall  arise  out  of  this  kingdom."  When  the  Roman 
Empire  had  remained  at  its  climax  for  two  or  three  centuries, 


40  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

unexpectedly  it  was  attacked  by  unknown  barbarians,  and  crum- 
bled in  pieces.  History  details  how  exactly  this  prophecy  was 
fulfilled,  in  ten  kingdoms  being  formed  out  of  the  proper  ter- 
ritorial limits  of  the  fourth  beast,  or  the  empire  of  Rome.  And 
it  was  necessary,  for  the  full  accomplishment  of  other  prophe- 
cies, that  this  territorial  division  should  be  observed;  for  other- 
wise the  great  image  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  represent- 
ing the  four  monarchies,  could  not  be  still  standi?ig,  as  it 
undoubtedly  is,  for  it  is  not  yet  smitten  to  pieces  by  the  stone. 

These  ten  kingdoms  are  generally  classed  as  follows: — 
1.  Ravenna;  2.  Lombardy;  3.  Rome — (which  three  form  the 
Papal  States;)  4.  Naples;  5.  Sardinia;  6.  France;  7.  Austria; 
8.  Spain;  9.  Portugal;  10.  Britain; — although  some  persons 
consider  the  number  ten  in  this  place  indefinite,  and  only 
intended  to  signify  that  they  shall  be  always  near  this  number. 

As  the  Prophet  was  considering  these  ten  divisions  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  there  came  up  in  the  midst  of  them  a  little 
horn — the  Papal  dominion.  It  is  first  described  as  plucking 
up  three  of  the  first  kingdoms  by  the  root — Ravenna,  Lom- 
bardy, and  Rome — to  which  fact  the  Pope  gives  his  sanction 
by  wearing  a  triple  crou-n.  He  has  two  swords  carried  before 
him,  to  mark  both  his  temporal  and  spiritual  dominion,  de- 
scribed in  Revelations  by  his  two  lamb-like  horns.  It  is  said 
further,  that  the  Pope  should  have  "eyes  like  the  eyes  of  a 
man,  and  a  mouth  speaking  great  things,  and  a  look  more  stout 
than  his  fellows."  That  is,  that  he  should  be  a  spiritual  power, 
"eyes"  intimating  a  prophetic  character.  The  Popes  have 
exercised  undisputed  tyranny,  and  have  assumed  the  attributes 
of  Deity. 

The  Prophet  adds,  that  the  Papal  power  "should  make  war 
with  the  saints,  and  prevail  against  them."  It  is  natural  that 
this  arch-deception,  which  keeps  the  Scriptures  from  the  people, 
and  teaches  its  own  traditions  in  their  place — darkening  the 
beautiful  simplicity  of  God's  plan  of  salvation  by  the  unscrip- 
tural  dogmas  of  purgatory,  worship  of  saints  and  the  Virgin 
Mary,  celibacy  of  clergy,  the  doctrine  of  human  merit,  prayers 
for  the  dead,  and  other  pernicious  tenets — should  persecute 
those  who  maintained  inviolate  the  holy  principles  of  the 
Gospel.  Wherever  the  humble  followers  of  the  Saviour  have 
been  found,  there  has  the  faggot,  the  sword,  and  every  instru- 
ment of  torture  and  of  death  that  bigotry  and  cruelty  could 
devise,  been  employed  to  induce  them  to  renounce  their  faith 
and  join  this  apostate  church.  Though  a  veil  as  thick  as  mid- 
night has  been  attempted  to  be  thrown  over  the  atrocities  of 
the  Inquisition,  enough  has  transpired  to  give  some  idda   of 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY. 


41 


the  dreadful  scenes  of  suffering  transacted  within  their  dark 
abodes. 

The  prophecy  then  names  the  length  of  time  Popery  waste 
continue — 1260  years. 

I  feel  no  hesitation,  with  the  majority  of  modern  commen- 
tators, in  fixing  as  the  commencement  of  this  period  the  edict 
of  Justinian,  a.  d.  533. 

1st.  Because  no  other  edict  was  of  equal  importance. 

2d,  Popery  had  attained  real  life, 

3d,  The  church  was  in  this  year  cleansed  from  the  heresy 
of  Arianism,  *'The  earth,"  or  the  Roman  empire,  helped 
"the  woman,"  or  the  church,  to  escape  from  being  over- 
whelmed by  the  ''flood,"  in  this  very  year  533,  when  Justinian, 
in  his  zeal  for  orthodoxy,  brought  the  Arian  nations  to  utter  ruin. 

4th,  As  this  great  Period  of  1260  years  constitutes  the  latter 
half  of  the  complete  period  of  2520  years,  or  "seven  times;" 
so  533  being  exactly  the  middle  point  between  the  first  com- 
mencement and  first  termination  of  this  complete  period — that 
is,  between  b.  c.  727  and  a,  d,  1793 — therefore  the  edict  of 
Justinian,  issued  this  year,  forming  such  middle  point,  must  of 
necessity  be  the  true  era  from  which  to  date  the  first  or  inchoa- 
tive commencement  of  the  reign  of  Popery,  or  the  captivity  of 
the  Christian  church, 

5th,  This  conclusion  receives  additional  evidence  from  the 
events  of  the  French  revolution  which  happened  in  1793,  when 
Infidelity  aimed  a  deadly  blow  at  Popery,  Though  its  power 
was  then  shaken,  it  has  been  suffered  to  rise  again  for  a  time; 
which  rather  confirms  than  invalidates  the  correctness  of  the 
above  reasoning.  If  the  year  533  formed  the  first  commence- 
ment of  Popery,  and  1793  its  first  termination,  it  requires,  in 
order  that  the  half  period  may  fully  harmonize  with  the  full 
period,  that  there  should  be  a  second  commencement,  and  a 
second  and  final  termination;  and  that  these  should  correspond 
with  those  of  the  complete  and  full  period.  Accordingly, 
as  the  middle  point  between  the  year  b.  c.  677  or  676,  and  the 
year  a,  d,  1843,  or  1844,  is  5S3  or  584,  this  must  in  someway 
have  marked  the  full  rise  of  Popery. 

The  force  of  the  argument  thus  appears  more  clear. 


B.C, 

727 

A.D, 

533J 


The  events  that 
led  to  Israel's 
final  captivity. 

The  events  that 
led  to  the  rise 
of  Popery. 


I/ears 
2520 


1260 


r 


The  events  that 
led  to  Israel's 
restoration. 

The  events  that 
led  to  the  fall 
of  Popery. 


A.D, 

1793 


VOL.  III. — 4 


42  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

^'^'  S  Year  of  Israel's/     _-__     S  Year  of  Israel's     ,0^0 
^•^^^^   £     1      •  y    2520     <         .       .-  1843 

677-6  J  final  ruin.  t  J  restoration. 

C  )  C  (-or 

A.D.  C  The  full  rise  of  >         „       C   The  downfall  of   I  1844 
583-4  I  Popery.  5     ^^^^     ^  Popery.  J 

Some  event,  therefore,  marking  a  prophetical  era,  must  have 
happened  in  583  or  584:  and  we  find,  accordingly,  from  the 
best  information  which  can  be  collected,  that  the  last  of  the 
ten  Papal  nations  was  established  at  this  time;  and  likewise, 
according  to  Bower,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Popes,  that  in  the  year 
584  the  Pope  assumed  the  most  characteristic  and  most  potent 
mark  of  his  apostacy, — the  Divine  attribute  of  Infallibility. 

The  events  which  took  place  in  the  intervening  fifty  years, 
from.  533  to  583-4,  are  mentioned  by  Gibbon  as  peculiarly 
marked  by  comets,  earthquakes,  inundations,  tempests,  war, 
pestilence,  and  famine.  Chap,  xliii.,  closing  his  history  of  the 
reign  of  Justinian,  which  forms  a  striking  comment  on  the 
calamities  of  the  Fourth  Seal. 

Second  Prophecy. — Dan.  xii. 

This  prophecy,  from  its  importance,  is  called  the  ''great 
visio?i/^  and  relates  to  the  Jews.  It  commences  in  the  10th 
chapter,  which  forms  an  introduction  to  the  historical  events 
that  are  related  in  the  11th  and  12th  chapters. 

The  11th  chapter  particularly  confines  its  details  to  the  most 
important  epocha  in  the  history  of  the  Jews — namely,  the  per- 
secutions o(  their  7iation  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes;  and  the  rise, 
exploits,  and  fall  of  that  Infidel  power  which  is  to  have  such  a 
great  and  decisive  influence  in  bringing  about  their  restoration. 
The  chapter  may  be  divided  into  three  parts:  the  first  thirty 
verses  relate  to  events  connected  with  their  nation  as  long  as 
they  coiilmued  a  nation:  the  second  part  is  contained  in  the  next 
five  verses,  and  belongs  to  the  ijUerregnum  between  the  time  of 
their  dispersion  by  the  Romans  and  the  occurrence  of  the  events 
that  are  to  unite  them  as  a  people:  and  the  third  part,  the 
remaining  ten  verses,  belongs  to  the  time  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  close  of  the  Gentile  dispensation,  and  the  termina- 
tion of  their  long  dispersion. 

The  11th  chapter  commences  with  the  first  three  kings  of 
Persia, — Cyrus,  Cambyses,  and  Darius  Hystaspes;  and  a  fourth, 
Xerxes.  The  eight  succeeding  monarchs  are  passed  over;  and 
the  3d  and  4th  verses  describe  Alexander's  powerful  empire, 
and  its  fourfold  division  among  his  generals  at  his  death. 

Till  ver.  30,  are  recorded  various  transactions  connected  with 
Egypt  and  Syria,  the  two  kingdoms  between  which  Judea  was 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         43 

situated,  and  called  here  the  kingdoms  of  the  South  and  the 
North.  Verse  21  brings  it  to  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the  greatest 
enemy  the  Jews  ever  had;  who,  after  being  checked  in  Egypt 
by  the  Romans,  vented  his  rage  on  the  Jews,  plundering  Jeru- 
salem, and  dedicating  the  temple  to  a  heathen  deity.  God,  in 
this  hour  of  distress,  raised  up  the  family  of  the  Maccabees,  who 
roused  the  dormant  energy  of  the  whole  nation,  and  restored 
it  to  comparative  prosperity  for  nearly  100  years. 

Ver.  31  describes  the  Roman  Empire  as  taking  part  against 
them;  and  ver.  32  the  general  apostacy  at  this  period  under  the 
abominations  of  Popery. 

Ver.  34.  The  church  during  this  season  of  persecution  is 
permitted  a  breathing  time,  "a  little  help:" — and  here  I  con- 
sider it  was  that  the  Fourth  Seal  ended,  and  the  Fifth  was 
opened — the  time  of  the  Reformation. 

The  remaining  ten  verses  form  the  third  division  of  this 
chapter,  and  describe  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Infidel  power  of 
the  last  times,  immediately  preparatory  to  the  Lord's  last  signal 
interposition  in  behalf  of  the  Jews. 

In  order  to  their  proper  understanding,  they  should  be  studied 
in  connexion  with  the  Revelation.  Rev.  xvii.  represents  this 
Infidel  power  as  the  Western  Roman  Empire  under  the  third 
symbolical  beast. 

The  first  beast  represented  Pagan  Rome,  Rev.  xii.  13;  the 
second  beast.  Papal  Rome,  Rev.  xiii.  1;  the  third  beast,  Infidel 
Rome,  Rev.  xvii.  3.  This  beast  is  represented  as  stipporti?ig 
the  Papacy,  vers.  3 — 8;  and  all  the  earth  shall  zvonder  when 
it  shall  disappear,  except  "those  whose  names  are  written  in 
the  book  of  life." 

The  seven  heads,  vers.  9 — 11,  have  a  two-fold  signification: 
first,  identifying  the  woman  to  be  Rome  on  seven  hills  (see 
ver.  IS);  and  secondly,  signifying  "seven  kings,"  or  the  seven 
distinct  forms  of  government  which  have  existed  in  Rome  since 
its  foundation.  Five  were  fallen  when  the  Apostle  wrote — 
"kings,"  "consuls,"  "dictators,"  "decemvirs,"  and  "militar}^ 
tribunes  with  consular  authority."  It  is  then  said,  "one  is," 
which  was  the  sixth  or  imperial  head,  established  b.c.  27,  and 
which  subsisted  at  the  time  of  the  vision.  After  the  death  of 
Theodosius  the  Great,  his  headship  was  divided  into  the  Eastern 
and  Western  branches.  The  Eastern  fell  in  1453,  when  Con- 
stantinople was  taken  by  the  Turks.  The  Western  ceased  to 
exist  in  1806,  when  Francis  II.  of  Austria  was  deprived  of  it 
by  Napoleon,  who  became  the  seventh  or  Infidel  head,  and  who 
was  to  "continue  a  short  space,"  which  ended  in  1815,  after 
the  battle  of  Waterloo.  But  this  Infidel  head  is  to  re-appear 
"and  is  to  be"  the  eighth,  "and  is  of  the  seven" — that  is,  is 


44  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

to  be  of  one  of  the  seven  forms  of  government  that  have  already 
appeared.  There  is,  therefore,  yet  to  arise  some  other  infidel 
form  of  government — uncrowned! 

We  must  now  return  to  Daniel  (xi.  36 — 39),  who  describes 
this  infidel  power  which  can  be  no  other  than  Napoleon,  who, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  became  the  "seventh  head."  It  seems 
difficult  to  imagine  in  what  other  words  the  character,  exploits, 
and  policy  of  this  extraordinary  individual  could  have  been  so 
briefly,  as  well  as  so  accurately,  portrayed,  as  those  which 
were  here  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  predicting  his  appearance 
above  2300  years  before  he  was  born. 

In  ver.  36,  the  length  of  time  is  given  during  which  these 
infidel  principles  should  prosper — "till  the  indignation  should 
be  accomplished."  I  consider  the  "indignation"  here  spoken 
of,  to  be  the  accomplishment  of  God's  indignation  against  the 
Jews  as  a  people,  and  its  termination  that  of  the  "seven  times," 
or  2520  years  of  their  dispersion. 

Between  the  39th  and  40th  verses  there  is  evidently  an  inter- 
vening space  of  time — it  is  the  silence  of  the  seventh  seal,  the 
ceasing  of  the  sixth  trumpet,  and  the  time  of  preparation  for 
the  "great  battle  of  God  Almighty."  It  is,  consequently,  the 
time  of  expectation — of,  first,  the  sounding  of  the  seventh 
trumpet;  secondly,  of  the  great  battle  of  Armageddon;  and 
thirdly,  of  the  coming  of  Christ  (Rev.  xvi.  15).  The  40th 
verse,  like  the  seventh  trumpet  and  seventh  vial,  predicts  a 
destructive  Northern  invasion,  which,  like  a  "whirlwind,"  shall 
root  up  the  Western  or  Infidel  nations. 

Vers.  41 — 45  end  with  the  great  battle  of  Armageddon. 
The  King  of  the  North,  after  having  entered  into  the  land  of 
Judea  and  overthrown  many  countries,  shall  pitch  his  tents  in 
the  great  plain  of  Armageddon,  where  "he  shall  come  to  his 
end."  "And  at  that  time  (Dan.  xii.  1)  shall  Michael  stand  up, 
the  great  Prince  which  standeth  up  for  the  children  of  thy 
people,  and  there  shall  be  trouble,"  &c. 

At  the  close  of  the  sixth  vial — under  which,  be  it  remem- 
bered, we  are  now  living — the  intimation  of  the  Lord's  coming 
is  thus  given:  "Behold,  I  come  as  a  thief."  In  Rev.  vii.  the 
elect  of  God  are  represented  as  being  "sealed  in  their  fore- 
heads" for  an  especial  deliverance,  which  deliverance  is  con- 
nected with  the  great  event  mentioned  in  Dan.  xii.  2,  3,  which 
should  be  literally  understood.  The  4th  verse  evidences  that 
the  "time  of  the  end"  cannot  be  far  distant.  Till  the  French 
Revolution,  the  prophecies  were  shut  up  and  sealed:  since  that 
time  light  has  dawned  upon  the  subject;  and  as  the  crisis  draws 
near  clearer  indications  will,  no  doubt,  be  given  of  its  approach. 
There  are  yet  two  indications  in  the  4th  ver.   marking  the 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  45 

«'time  of  the  end," — the  improved  facilities  of  conveyance  to 
all  parts  of  the  world,  and  the  unexampled  diffusion  of  knovv- 
ledo-e.     The  "time  of  the   end"   and   the  termination   of  the 

n 

1260  years  must  be  one  and  the  same. 

Ver.  7  expresses  clearly  that  the  two  great  events,  the  fall 
of  Popery  and  restoration  of  the  Jews,  are  to  happen  at  the 
same  lime. 

Thus  is  the  prediction  of  this  cluster  of  wonders,  from.  xi.  35 
to  xii.  10,  and  all  of  which  are  to  take  place  at  the  "time 
of  the  end,"  begun  and  closed  by  the  mention  of  a  great 
persecution. 

This  "great  vision"  closes  with  the  important  information 
that  the  series  of  events  which  will  commence  at  this  period 
of  unprecedented  wonders,  will  extend,  in  the  first  place,  over 
a  period  of  thirty  years,  or  to  1290  years;  and  subsequently  to 
1335  years,  or  seventy-five  years  onwards;  when  a  season  of 
blessedness  will  commence,  which  is  generally  considered  the 
Millenniunti. 

No  intimation  is  given  of  the  particulars  of  that  series  of 
events  which  is  to  occupy  the  above  space  of  seventy-five 
years.  It  is  likewise  remarkable,  that  the  same  silence  is 
xprcssly  observed  with  regard  to  the  same  series  of  events  in 
the  10th  of  Revelation.  I  allude  to  the  seven  ihunders,  ver.  4. 
These  seven  thunders  relate  to  events  which  are  to  happen 
during  the  seventy-five  years,  because  both  stand  exactly  in  the 
same  position  in  regard  to  order  of  time  (compare  Dan.  x.  5, 
6,  xii  7;  with  Rev.  x,  1 — 6);  consequently,  the  seventy-five 
years  and  the  seven  thunders  both  commence  at  the  end  of 
the  1260  years. 

If  it  be  asked,  why  is  such  an  impenetrable  veil  thus  thrown 
over  the  deeply  calamitous  events  which  are  destined  to  be 
inflicted  on  the  world;  and  why  were  not  the  seven  thunders 
allowed  to  be  written,  as  well  as  seven  seals,  the  seven  trum- 
pets, and  the  seven  vials?  the  only  answer  we  can  give  is, — 
Because  it  will  not  concern  the  Lord's  people,  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  Christ,  to  have  this  information:  otherwise  it  would 
assuredly  be  given  them.  They  will  be  taken  from  the  reach 
of  all  those  troubles,  as  Noah  was  from  the  destruction  of  the 
Deluge;  Lot,  from  that  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah;  and  the 
Christians,  from  the  evils  of  the  siege  of  Jerusalem:  see  Joel 
iii.  16,  ii.  32;  Heb.  xii.  22;  Rev.  xiv.  1;  Obad.  17;  Ps.  xlvi. 
First,  the  Lord's  people  will  be  preserved  (Matt.  xxiv.  30,  31 
—37;  1  Cor.  xv.  51,  52;  1  Thess.  iv.  16,  17).  Secondly,  the 
children  of  Israel  will  be  preserved  (Jer.  xxx.  5 — 9). 
4* 


46  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 


Third  Prophecy — Rev.  xii.  7 — 17. 

The  former  part  of  this  prophecy  refers  to  the  struggle 
between  Christianity  and  Heathenism;  to  the  triumph  of  the 
Gospel;  and  to  the  final  expulsion  of  Paganism  from  the 
Roman  Empire.  And  it  is  over  the  victory  thus  obtained 
that  the  church  triumphant  is  called  on  to  rejoice.  As  we 
have  seen,  in  considering  the  first  four  Seals,  happiness  did 
not  attend  this  conquest.  Heresies,  and  particularly  Arian- 
ism,  abounded;  and  then  the  awful  apostacy  of  Popery.  What 
was  left  of  the  true  church  ultimately  fled  from  sight  "into  the 
wilderness,"  "where  she  is  nourished  for  a  time  and  times 
and  a  half  a  time."  The  mention  of  this  chronological  period 
in  the  very  terms  used  by  Daniel,  appears  to  have  been  for 
the  express  purpose  of  shewing  that  the  persecution  here 
alluded  to  are  those  which  the  church  was  to  experience  under 
the  Papal  dominion.    (Dan.  vii.) 

The  church,  therefore,  in  its  wilderness  state,  when  driven 
into  the  mountains  and  fastnesses  of  Piedmont,  and  only  a 
small  remnant  appeared  to  be  left,  having  these  prophecies, 
had  the  strongest  motives  for  faith  and  patience.  The  assur- 
ance was  given  that  this  apostate  power  was  only  for  an 
appointed  period.     (Dan,  vii.  22;  Rev.  xviii.  21,  24.) 


SECOND    ASPECT. 

First  Prophecy:  Rev.  xi.  1.  2. — Second  Prophecy:  Rev.  xiii.  10,  11. 

The  first  aspect  under  which  this  great  Period  of  1260  years 
is  presented  to  our  view,  refers  to  the  apostacy  of  Popery  itself. 
The  second  aspect  refers  to  the  secular  arm  by  which  this 
apostacy  exercised  its  tyranny;  the  same  duration  being  given 
to  both,  under  different  terms. 

I  would  remark,  1st,  that  from  the  position  in  which  the 
first  of  these  two  prophecies  is  placed — between  the  sixth  and 
seventh  Trumpets — it  affords  another  confirmation  that  the 
1260  years  end  with  the  ceasing  of  the  sixth,  and  before  the 
seventh  and  last  Trumpet  shall  sound. 

2d  remark.  That  the  nations  who  shall  '<tread  under  foot" 
the  "holy  city"  are  Gentiles,  or  Pagans;  those  who  had  re- 
lapsed from  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  into  a  religion  resem- 
bling the  ancient  idolatry  of  the  heathen.  And  this  at  once 
identifies  them  as  Papists. 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.         47 

3d  remark.  These  "Gentiles"  are  further  identified  as  the 
Papal  nations,  by  the  length  of  time  they  are  predicted  to  form 
the  professing  church — forty  and  two  months,  or  1260  years. 

The  above  remarks  on  the  "First  Prophecy"  of  this  Second 
Aspect  under  which  Popery  appears,  afford  a  correct  clue  to 
the  interpretation  of  the  "Second  Prophecy,"  and  enable  us  to 
apply  the  particular  description  there  given  of  a  ten-horned 
beast  of  the  sea,  to  the  "Gentiles,  or  Papal  nations.  And  such 
an  application  fully  accords  with  every  characteristic  of  the  ten 
kingdoms  of  the  Western  Roman  Empire. 

1.  From  this  beast  rising  ow^  q/Me  sea — that  is,  the  agitated 
state  of  the  empire. 

2.  From  its  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  before  named. 

3.  From  these  ten  horns  being  crowned. 

4.  From  its  terrible  nature  and  qualities. 

5.  From  its  great  power. 

•    6.  From  one  of  its  heads  being  wounded  to  death. 

7.  From  its  having  been  the  wonder  and  dread  of  the  wovld, 
especially  during  the  Crusades. 

8.  From  icS  blasphemies. 

9.  Fro.n  the  chronological  term  here  used. 

10.  From  its  persecutions. 

11.  From  its  most  extensive  dominion. 


THIRD    ASPECT. 

Pirsl  Prophecy:  Rev.  xi.  3 — 14. — Second  Prophecy:  Rev.  xii.  1 — G. 

First  Propheci/. 

The  Lord's  people  form  two  distinct  churches — the  one  with- 
out the  visible  professing  church,  or  totally  unconnected  with 
the  religion  of  the  state;  and  the  other  within  such  visible  pro- 
fessing church,  but  free  from  its  corruptions  and  abuses,  or 
otherwise  sighing  over  them.  They  are  said  to  consist  of  two 
distinct  witnesses,  who  are  to  bear  their  testimony  to  the  faith 
and  love  of  Jesus,  in  a  depressed  and  sorrowful  condition,  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  the  tyrannical  dominion  of  the  Papacy  and 
the  Papal  kingdoms.  Their  symbols  are  two  olive  trees,  and 
.two  candlesticks. 

1st.  Ever  since  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  became  united 
with  the  powers  of  secular  government,  particularly  since  the 
establishment  of  Popery,  a  church  has  existed  separate  ajid 
distinct  from  such  connection.  The  Albigenses  and  Waldenses 
are  instances. 


48  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 

2d.  Likewise  a  spiritual  church  was  contained  within  the 
pale  of  the  Popish  apostacy  itself,  composed  of  members  of  its 
communion — men  who  were  raised  up  from  lime  to  time  to 
make  a  stand  against  and  expose  its  corruptions,  and  who  have 
left  good  evidence  of  having  held  the  faith  in  uprightness. 
Since  the  Reformation,  both  in  the  Reformed  and  un-reformed 
churches,  the  same  two  distinctive  witnesses  have  continued  to 
exist,  up  to  the  present  moment.  Can  we  say  the  Lord  hath 
only  one  witnessing  church  in  England,  when  we  look  to  the 
names  of  Romaine,  Toplady,  Scott, — Watts,  Owen,  and  Dod- 
dridge? 

Verses  7  to  10  describe  an  overwhelming  and  general  perse- 
cution of  the  Lord's  two  witnesses,  throughout  the  Western 
world;  which,  it  is  said,  is  to  last  for  three  years  and  a  half, 
and  which  will  be  the  fulfilment  of  the  literal  1260  days,  for 
which  some  contend.  The  prediction  is  placed  between  the 
sixth  and  seventh  Trumpets;  and  at  the  end  of  the  prophecy 
it  is  said  "the  second  woe  is  past;"  or,  that  when  this  pro- 
phecy ends,  the  second  woe,  or  the  Turkish  empire  will  like- 
wise end.  It  is  further  said  to  happen  when  the  two  witnesses 
shall  have  Jinished  their  1260  year's  testimony,  as  it  must  in 
this  case  form  the  last  three  years  and  a  half  of  this  period. 
The  twoivitnesses,  I  am  persuaded,  have  never  yet  been  slain; 
but  slain  assuredly  they  will  be.  What  is  to  be  understood  by 
the  two  witnesses  being  killed,  the  exposure  of  their  dead 
bodies,  their  not  being  suffered  to  be  buried,  must  be  some- 
thing to  which  a  church  can  be  subject,  something  which  the 
hand  of  man  may  have  the  power  to  inilict.  It  is  probable  it 
will  be  a  state  of  great  tribulation  and  misery  to  the  Lord's 
people;  a  season  of  unprecedented  persecution,  and  one  in 
which  Infidelity  will  appear  to  have  obtained  a  complele  tri- 
umph. 

Verses  11,  12,  predict  that  at  the  end  of  the  three  years  and 
half  of  this  terrible  persecution  a  most  wonderful  deliverance 
shall  be  wrought  in  favour  of  the  Lord's  two  witnessing 
churches.  At  the  moment  when  infidels  shall  imagine  they 
have  overturned  Cliristianity,  the  Spirit  of  life,  it  is  said,  will 
enter  into  them;  they  will  stand  on  their  feet;  great  fear  will 
fall  on  all  who  shall  see  these  things;  and  a  great  voice  from 
heaven  will  be  heard,  saying,  "Come  up  hither;"  when  they 
will,  in  the  sight  of  their  enemies,  ascend  up  to  heaven  in  a 
cloud.  Luke  xxi.  24 — 27;  Matt.  xxv.  1 — 13, 

The  Prophet  Elijah  appears  to  have  been  an  eminent  and 
remarkable  type  of  these  two  witnesses  (Luke  iv.  25,  26;  1 
Kings  xiii.  9 — 16);  teaching  us  that  the  supply  of  bread  and 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  49 

oil  which  His  poor  and  despised  church  has  received,  in  her 
mournful  and  despised  condition,  has  been  the  result  of  Sove- 
reign, discriminating  Mercy.  This  prophecy  then  says,  that 
at  the  time  of  this  great  interposition  in  favour  of  the  Lord's 
people  there  shall  be  a  great  revolution;  that  one  of  the  ten 
kingdoms  of  the  Roman  Empire  shall  fall ;  and  that  in  this  fall 
there  will  be  great  slaughter.  Immediately  after  the  kingdom 
falls,  the  Turkish  empire  will  cease  and  the  seventh  Trumpet 
will  sound. 

Second  Prophecy. 

The  vision  opens  with  a  representation  of  the  true  church, 
as  it  appears  under  the  Christian  dispensation,  "clothed  with 
the  sun;"  while  the  Jewish  church,  represented  as  the  moon, 
is  under  her  feet;  and  on  her  head  a  "crown  of  twelve  stars," 
or  the  twelve  Apostles  of  the  Lamb.  For  forty  weeks  (the 
time  of  gestation  in  women)  or  280  years,  the  church  struggled 
with  her  enemies;  till  at  length,  about  the  year  313  or  314,  in 
the  time  of  Constantine — that  is,  280  years  after  the  death  of 
Christ — his  Kingshijj,  or  triumph  over  the  powers  of  Pagan- 
ism, burst  on  the  astonished  world:  and  this  is  what  I  conceive 
by  a  man-child  being  born,  ivho  was  to  rule  the  world  "with 
a  rod  of  iron."  But  Satan,  personified  by  the  Roman  Empire, 
after  he  had  by  many  persecutions  brought  the  truth  very  low, 
stood  ready,  on  this  triumph  being  obtained,  to  destroy  this 
rule  or  kingship  of  Christ  over  the  world,  so  soon  as  it  should 
be  obtained.  And  he  was  successful:  "And  the  child  was 
caught  up  to  God  and  His  throne,"  At  length,  however,  after 
the  woman,  or  the  true  church,  had  been  in  her  depressed  con- 
dition the  appointed  term  of  "a  thousand  two  hundred  and 
three-score  days,"  or  1260  years,  that  kingship  over  the  na- 
tions, maugre  all  opposition  from  Satan  or  the  world,  shall  be 
successfully  and  permanently  resumed  (Ps.  ii,  9;  Rev.  xix.  15; 
Ps.  Ixii.  7 — 11).  "And  the  seventh  angel  sounded,  and  there 
were  great  voices  in  heaven,  crying.  The  kingdoms  of  this 
world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ, 
and  he  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever." 


50  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 


PERIOD  viir. 

From  the  overthrow  of  the  Eastern  Roman  Empire,  to  the  dryivg- 
up  of  the  kingdom  of  Turkey;  391  years,  from  A.D.  1453  to 
1844. 

We  have  seen,  in  the  consideration  of  the  last  three  Periods, 
that  each  terminates  in  the  year  1843  or  1844.  If  we  take  the 
death  of  Christ  to  have  happened,  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  proves 
it  did,  in  the  year  34,  the  latter  will  be  the  right  year;  for  this 
brings  the  commencement  of  the  Fourth  Period  to  the  year 
B.  c.  456;  and  the  2300  years  of  the  Sixth  Period,  reckoned 
from  it,  will  end  in  1844,  The  respective  dates  of  the  above 
Three  Periods,  will,  in  this  case,  stand  thus: — 

Period  V.  b.c.  67G — 2520  years,  to  a.d.  1844 
Period  VI.  b.c.  456 — 2300  years,  to  a.d.  1844 
Period  VII.    a.d.  584 — 1260  years,  to  a.d.  1844. 

As  if  this  cloud  of  evidence,  however,  was  not  sufficient, 
and,  as  it  would  appear,  with  the  view  of  drawing  our  atten- 
tion still  more  intently  upon  the  approaching  great  crisis,  God 
hath  been  pleased  to  give  us  another  chronological  prophecy; 
one  which  affords,  perhaps,  the  most  clear  and  distinct  corrobo- 
ration of  the  correctness  of  the  above  conclusions  of  which 
the  subject  will  admit.  For,  in  the  first  place,  the  date  from 
which  it  is  to  be  reckoned  is  known  even  to  a  day,  namely. 
May  29,  1453;  the  prophecy  itself  is  given  with  with  unusual 
precision,  namely,  "an  hour,  a  day,  a  month,  and  a  year," 
which  signifies  (360  +  30+1=391)  391  years  and  a  month; 
and  of  all  the  present  signs  of  the  times,  the  consumption  of 
the  Turkish  Empire  is  the  most  distinct  and  unequivocal. 

The  taking  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks  was  at  the  time 
above  named,  in  1453;  and  this,  I  conceive,  is  the  only  event 
in  the  Turkish  history  from  which  this  Period  can  be  dated; 
and  for  the  following  reasons: 

1st.  Because  it  is  the  only  such  event  that  bears  the  charac- 
ter of  a  prophetical  era — namely,  as  being  one  of  surpassing 
historical  importance,  one  that  has  a  special  respect  to  the 
afiairs  of  the  church  of  Christ,  one  that  produced  a  permanent 
change  in  the  political  aspect  of  the  Roman  world,  and  one  of 
God's  most  severe  judgments. 

2d.  Because,  all  the  Trumpets  being  intended  as  judgments 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  51 

upon  the  degenerate  Christian  church,  the  Turks  before  this 
period  fell  upon  that  part  of  the  Roman  Empire  not  under 
such  jurisdiction,  and  therefore  were  no  more  the  subject  of 
prophecy  than  were  the  great  exploits  of  Hannibal  or  Tamerlane. 

3d.  Because  no  preceding  event  in  the  Turkish  history 
could  be  said  to  "kill  men,"  that  is,  to  cause  the  political 
death  of  a  part  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

4th.  Because  in  no  preceding  event  was  artillery  used,  yet 
such  is  mentioned  in  this  prophecy;  and  it  is  a  great  histori- 
cal fact,  that  the  use  of  this  newly  invented  engine  of  destruc- 
tion mainly  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  Turks  on  this 
occasion. 

5th.  Because  the  termination  of  this  Period  is  to  take  place 
immediately  on  the  ascension  of  the  two  witnesses,  which,  if 
the  date  be  reckoned  from  this  event,  will  be  the  case.  (See 
the  Seventh  Period.) 

6th.  Because,  if  reckoned  from  this  event,  it  will  end  in 
the  same  year  as  the  2300  years  of  the  Sixth  Period,  which 
has  equally  a  reference  to  the  existence  of  the  Mohammedan 
apostacy,  and  are  thereby  required  to  have  one  common  ter- 
mination. 

I  would  merely  add,  that  the  very  gradual  extinction  'of 
Turkey,  expressed  in  propliecy  by  the  terms  "drying  up," 
and  "broken  without  hand,"  appears  to  be  for  the  express 
purpose  of  a  general  warning  to  the  world,  similar  to  what  the 
building  of  the  ark  was  to  the  antediluvian  world;  for  there 
are  none  who  may  not  observe  it;  the  prophecy  is  in  all 
respects  clear  and  definite;  and  it  exactly  agrees  with  the 
actual  condition  of  the  nation  to  which  it  refers,  the  influence 
of  Turkey  being  every  where  spoken  of  as  at  an  end,  and  the 
empire  itself  having  only  a  nominal  existence.  Let  believers, 
then,  be  awake  and  alive  to  the  all-important  times  which  are 
at  hand;  let  them  abandon  every  pre-conceived  idea  of  the 
future,  not  founded  on  the  word  of  God  and  the  clear  light  of 
Divine  prophecy;  and,  with  their  lamps  trimmed  and  their 
loins  girt,  let  them,  in  humble  resignation  and  joyful  hope,  be 
prepared  both  for  that  tierce  persecution,  as  well  as  for  that 
glorious  exaltation,  which  is  appointed  for  them;  and  which 
are  thus  appointed  to  take  place  immediately  preceding  the 
final  extinction  of  this  universally  acknowledged  expiring 
empire. 


52  A  GUIDE  TO  THE  STUDY 


CONCLUSION. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  I  have  taken  it  for  granted  that  the 
fate  of  Britain  will  be  involved  in  that  of  the  ten  Papal  king- 
doms of  the  Western  Roman  Empire.  There  appears  in  the 
Bible  no  exception  whatever  made  in  the  denunciation  of  wide- 
spread ruin  and  desolation  coming  upon  the  world,  in  favour  of 
any  people,  except  the  literal  Israel,  and  a  spiritual  people  typi- 
fied in  Rev.  vii.  by  that  nation.  The  Jews  alone,  as  a  nation, . 
are  to  be  restored  to  their  own  land.  As  it  regards  them,  the 
deliverance  will  be  «a/i07«a/ (Jer.  XXX.  11;  Ixxi.  2S;  xxix.  14):  as 
it  regards  believers,  it  will  be  iiidividual  (Matt.  xxiv.  31 ,  40, 41.) 

With  respect  to  Britain  it  may  be  urged,  that,  in  the  fearful 
trial  which  the  nations  of  Europe  passed  through  in  the  last 
war,  she  was  preserved;  to  this  I  reply, — 

1st.  The  fatal  link  has  since  that  time  appeared,  which  has  again 
identified  us  as  one  of  the  ten  Papal  nations. — The  bulwarks  which 
the  piety  of  our  forefathers  set  up  against  Popery,  and  which 
it  has  often  been  thought  had  for  ever  dissevered  England  from 
all  connection  with  the  Romish  church,  the  Liberalism  of  the 
present  day  has  greatly  demolished.  In  the  Lord's  dealings 
with  England,  the  warnings  against  that  fatal  apostacy  have 
been  distinct  and  intelligible;  for,  whatever  were  the  rank 
which  England  as  a  nation  obtained  under  a  Protestant  sove- 
reign, it  ahcaijs  sank  under  a  Popish;  and  let  its  loss  of  honour 
or  power  be  what  it  might  under  a  Popish  sovereign,  it  ahoays 
recovered  under  a  Protestant. 

2d.  Her  identification  as  a  great  maritime  power.  And  over 
such  a  power,  on  the  fall  of  the  symbolical  Babylon,  a  rejoic- 
ing is  represented  to  take  place.  Rev.  xviii.  11 — 20. 

3d.  The  present  political  aspect  of  England  being  in  exact 
accordance  with  the  nature  and  order  of  the  predicted  and  an- 
ticipated judgments  on  the  ten  Papal  nations — which  is  that  of 
Revolution  (see  Rev.  xi,  13 — 19;  xvi.  8) — furnishes  another 
argument  against  its  probable  preservation. 

4th.  Another  argument,  that  looks  with  a  lowering  aspect  on 

.  England,  is,  that,  zcith  such  an  awful  state  of  things  in  prospect, 

a  great  part  of  the  unestahlished  professing  church  should  range 

themselves  on   the  side  of  Infdels,  Heretics,  and  Papists,  fof  the 

overthrozo  of  the  Established  Church. 


OF  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY.  53 

5th.  Another  and  powerful  argument  against  the  probable 
preservation  of  England,  in  the  fearful  times  that  are  approach- 
ing, is  the  consideration  of  oicr  arvfid  ?iational  si?is. 

There  is  but  one  hope,  and  that  is,  the  king  and  people  of 
England  imitating  the  conduct  of  the  king  and  people  of  Nine- 
veh (Jon.  iii.  5 — 9;  Jer.  xviii.  7,  8). 

However,  under  all  circumstances,  "though  the  earth  should 
be  removed,  and  the  mountains  cast  into  the  midst  of  the  sea," 
yet  the  Lord's  believing  people  have  nothing  to  fear.  By  faith, 
like  the  saints  of  old  (Heb.  xi.),  they  may  realize  the  provision 
which  God  hath  made  for  their  safety  (Ezek.  ix.  and  Rev.  vii.), 
and  in  this  confidence  "look  for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the 
glorious  appearing  of  the  Great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ"  (Titus  ii,  13).  Let  the  fate  of  England  be  what  it  may, 
their  "groaning"  (Rom.  viii.  23)  will  soon  be  at  an  end;  for 
the  time  undoubtedly  is  now  near  at  hand  when  "the  redemp- 
tion of  the  body"  shall  be  experienced,  and  when  these  bodies 
of  our  humiliation  shall  be  fashioned  like  unto  His  own  glori- 
ous body.  Well  may  the  church,  then,  exult  in  the  prospect 
before  her,  of  her  complete  and  final  deliverance  from  all  her 
enemies;  and  anticipate,  with  feelings  of  the  highest  delight,  the 
joyful  annunciation  "Behold,  the  Bridegroom  cometh!"  Her 
days  of  mourning  and  sorrow  will  then  be  at  an  end,  and  "God 
himself  will  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes.*'  Christ  will 
take  unto  himself  his  great  power,  "and  reign  with  his  saints 
on  the  earth;"  and  the  time  be  fully  arrived,  when  the  great 
Jubilee  of  a  thousand  years,  so  beautifully  and  rapturously  de- 
scribed by  Isaiah,  and  in  the  last  chapters  of  the  Revelation,^ 
will  commence. — 


"O  scenes  surpassing  fable,  and  yet  true! 
Scenes  of  accomplished  bliss!  which  who  can  see, 
Though  but  in  distant  prospect,  and  not  feel 
His  soul  refresh'd  with  foretaste  of  the  joy'? 
***** 

One  song  employs  all  nations;  and  all  cry, 
'Worthy  the  Lamb,  for  He  was  slain  for  us!" 
The  dwellers  in  the  vales  and  on  the  rocks 
Shout  to  each  other,  and  the  mountain  tops 
From  distant  mountains  catch  the  flying  joy; 
Till,  nation  after  nation  taught  the  strain, 
Earth  rolls  the  rapturous  Hosanna  round. 
Behold  the  measure  of  the  promise  fiU'd! 
See  Salem  built,  the  labour  of  a  God! 
Bright  as  a  sun  the  sacred  city  shines; 
All  kingdoms  and  all  princes  of  the  earth 
Flock  to  that  light;  the  glory  of  all  lands 
Flows  into  her;  unbounded  is  her  joy, 
And  endless  her  increase.     *    *     * 
Praise  is  in  all  her  gates:  upon  her  walls, 

VOL.  III. — 5 


54  STUDY  OP  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECY. 

And  in  her  streets,  and  in  her  spacious  courts, 
Is  heard  Salvation. 

From  every  clime  they  come 
To  see  thy  beauty  and  to  share  thy  joy, 
O  Sion!  an  assembly  such  as  earth 
Saw  never,  such  as  Heav'n  stoops  down  to  see." 

COWPER. 


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